Counseling Juvenile Offenders: A Program Evaluation

This article reviews the results of the effectiveness of counseling services provided by the Juvenile Counseling and Assessment Program (JCAP) of the Juvenile Court of Clarke County, Georgia. Individual and group counseling services were provided for 55 male and female adjudicated delinquent youths, ages 9 to 17, over a period of 4 to 6 months. The recidivism rates of the youths who had received counseling services were compared to the recidivism rates of a control group that had not received counseling services.     

A Short-Term,Family-Oriented,Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Inpatient Treatment Program

We describe a short-term inpatient treatment program whose purpose is to integrate the different interventions in the child, his or her family, and the outpatient professional network. The interaction between the family and the ward is the basic structural element of child psychiatric inpatient treatment. The child, the family, the professional outpatient network, and the ward community together form an extended therapeutic system. Inpatient treatment can be understood as a coevolving process between these systems. The essential feature in our working model is the continuous, daily nursing staff supervision and a focus on interactions in the extended therapeutic system.     

Assessment as Intervention: A Pilot Study of Short-Term Dyadic Treatment

Assessment, as an intervention, is a hallmark of infant mental health that has not been evaluated for treatment effectiveness. A comprehensive assessment framework was standardized as a short-term intervention model and evaluated for treatment effects based on dynamic systems theory of change. The transdisciplinary interaction-based assessment model embeds nondidactic developmental guidance interpretations in the context of eliciting child functional capacities while engaging the caregiver in direct co-observation and reflection to challenge inflexibility in parents’ representations. The findings of this pilot project, with a community sample of Spanish- and English-speaking families, suggest this assessment as intervention model has the potential to promote an active process of change in parents’ representations toward a “disorderly,” or unstable state, possibly both in perceptions of self as caregiver and in representations of the child. Clinically, this disorderly state would be seen as an opportunity that could perpetuate the change process, recognizing disorderliness of representation as an opening, as emerging permeability of representations. Results indicate that this caregiver-clinician collaborative process is associated with caregiver reports of decreased distress, increased empathy for child’s difficulties, and changes in caregiver representations. A subset of families, caregivers who hold immutable views of their children, are less responsive to the developmental guidance approach and may require different or more long-term treatment.     

A Model Program for Counseling and Placement of Offenders

This article describes the Maryland Comprehensive Offender Model Program (COMIP), designed to deliver manpower services to offenders while they are incarcerated and until they are placed in training or employment. Counseling was based on the Reality Therapy model with a high structured format for group sessions. The GATB and NATB were used for vocational planning; Holland's Self-Directed Search was the most effective interest instrument. Supportive services were minimal and consisted mainly of arranging housing and temporary public assistance grants. Over half of the placements stemmed from individual job development and this resulted in a placement rate higher than that usually achieved with applicants who do not have multiple barriers to employment.     

Reducing Academic Procrastination Through a Group Treatment Program: A Pilot Study

The present study assessed a short-term group treatment program using cognitive interventions focused on students’ procrastination. A structured 90-min session program was used with 10 students (5 female, 5 male; M _age = 21.8, SD = 3.2) across 5 weeks. In the first and last session of the program participants completed a two reliable and valid procrastination scales, and then 8 weeks later in the follow up sessions filled out the same questionnaires. During the group sessions, participants identified their irrational thoughts as well as cognitive distortions associated with their procrastination tendencies. Results of a non-parametric Friedman Test revealed a significant decrease in participants’ academic procrastination score and general procrastination scores from the pre-test to follow-up test suggesting that the program was deemed to be successful.     

Reactions of Men of Color to a Commonly Used Rape Prevention Program: Attitude and Predicted Behavior Changes

African American, Latino, and Asian first-year college men (36) saw The Men’s Program, an all-male rape prevention workshop, and wrote answers to four open-ended questions to determine how men from non-white groups react to a commonly used rape prevention program. Using a multi-stage inductive analysis, participant responses fell into five main themes including reinforced current beliefs and/or no changes, increased awareness of rape and its effects on survivors, increased understanding of consent, plans to intervene if a rape might occur, and plans to change behavior in their own intimate situations. Participants mentioned specific ways in which they planned to change personal behavior, and ways in which they planned to intervene if they saw potentially dangerous situations.     

Assessment of Alcohol Use Disorders Among Court‐Mandated DWI Offenders

Convicted DWI offenders (N = 549) were assessed for alcohol use disorders. Repeat offenders had twice the rate of both lifetime and current alcohol use disorders compared with 1st‐time offenders. Guidelines for determining alcohol problems in DWI offenders are recommended.     

Integrating Theory and Research: The Development of a Research‐Based Treatment Program for Juvenile Male Sex Offenders

A research‐based treatment model designed to effectively address identified factors related to juvenile sexual offending behaviors is presented. Current research, theory, and national standards related to juvenile sexual offending are each explored with the treatment model reflecting an integration of these 3 components. The use of counseling skills is included throughout the model to further illustrate the application of theory and the role of the counselor in the treatment of this special population     

Offender Characteristics: A Study of 23 Violent Offenders in Sweden

Twenty-three offenders convicted of homicide or attempted murder/manslaughter, and their respective crimes, were examined to identify any common characteristics. Court documents were assessed, and the most prominent information of the offenders was that they were often single, most of them had no psychiatric diagnoses, the most frequent modus operandi was a knife or sharp weapon (although firearms resulted in more homicides), and the most common homicide typology was domestic disputes, and disputes between friends or acquaintances. Based on a cluster analysis, two profiles emerged: one with so-called traditional criminals and another profile over-represented with offenders who commit domestic crimes.     

Rorschach Changes in Long-Term Short-Term Psychotherapy

Over a period of several years, repeat Korschach testing was done with two groups of patients receiving outpatient psychotherapy, a long-term group (n = 88) engaged in intensive, dynamically oriented psychotherapy and a short-term group (n = 88) involved in behavioral or gestalt therapy. Rorschach protocols were obtained at the beginning of the treatment and on three subsequent occasions, 1 year, 21/2 years, and 4 years later, when most of the long-term and all of the short-term patients had completed their therapy. The findings demonstrate generally beneficial effects of psychotherapy, greater change in long-term than in short-term therapy, and the validity of the Rorschach for measuring these effects and changes.     

Theoretical Issues in Short-Term Treatment

No abstract available for this article.     

Measuring Parental Treatment Adherence in a Multimodal Treatment Program for Children with ADHD: A Preliminary Investigation

This study evaluated the clinical significance of measuring between session parental adherence on child and parent outcomes for 51 children (age 4 to 8.5 years) with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in a multimodal group training program. Three group treatment conditions: (a) child-only treatment (C1), (c) child and parent training (C2), and (c) C2 + Parent Adherence Measure [PAM (C3)] were compared to assess the clinical significance of measuring parental adherence on child behavioral problems, socialization skills, and parental efficacy. Parents administered the PAM (C3) displayed, in general, better outcomes on child and parent measures than the other two conditions. Results suggest that a multimodal group training program for young children with ADHD is favorable to child group training only. This study offers preliminary support for the clinical utility of measuring parental adherence in a child ADHD multimodal group training program.     

Counseling Adult Sex Offenders: Unique Challenges and Treatment Paradigms

Current definitions and research literature related to characteristics of adults who sexually victimize children are reviewed. Treatment issues that may confront counselors engaged in treating adults who sexually victimize children are examined, and implications for practitioners are discussed.     

A Restorative Justice Approach to Empathy Development in Sex Offenders: An Exploratory Study

The authors describe an exploratory study in sex offender treatment using a restorative justice approach to examine the shame, guilt, and empathy development of convicted sexual offenders. Implications for clinical practice and future research are highlighted.