Mental Health Values and Response to Alcoholism Treatment

Mental health values consist of the subset of values that refer to what constitutes good mental health. Torrey (1972) suggested that agreement between patient and therapist about such values may influence psychotherapy outcome. The authors found mixed support for this hypothesis using a sample of 100 chemical dependency inpatients. Positive treatment effects were associated with pretreatment agreement between counselor and patient about some mental health values, but with pretreatment disagreement about others. Because outcome measures assess general personality functioning, the authors suggest that attitudes about what constitutes good mental health may predict general psychotherapy effects as well as response to alcoholism treatment.     

BOOK REVIEW

Transforming Public Policy: Dynamics of Policy Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Nancy C. Roberts and Paula J. King, ISBN 0–7879–0202–0. San Francisco: Jossey‐Bass, 1996. 280 pages, $28.95

Jungian Archetypes: Jung, Goedel, and the History of Archetypes, Robin Robertson, Nicolas‐Hays, York Beach, Maine, 1995

Sociopolitics: Political Development in Postmodern Societies, Paris Arnopoulos, Guernica Editions Inc., Toronto/New York, 1995, paper; pp. 321, index, bibliography; $20.00 Canadian, $18.00 US     

Offender interviewing in custodial settings: Understanding validity,value and veracity issues

The purpose of this scoping literature review was to identify trends regarding validity, value and veracity issues when conducting (qualitative) interviews with offenders in custodial settings. We selected for review works from electronic databases in SAGE, Springer, and Taylor and Francis by using e-journals, Google Scholar and the behavioural science database, PsycINFO. The inclusion criteria for our studies were based on whether sources addressed offender interviewing as a wellspring of information, but excluded those that focused solely on the acquisition of clinical information (at the expense of focusing on validity, value and veracity issues). We utilised the content analysis approach to identify themes/ patterns in the research findings. Key findings suggest that offenders with impression management motivations deceive and manipulate in their research interview presentations. When gathering data from inmates in custodial care settings, best practice includes cross-checking offender interview data against other sources of evidence and taking into account the context in which they are serving their sentences.