Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 7-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Therapeutic Climate of Sexual Offender Treatment Programs

Therapeutic Climate of Sexual Offender Treatment Programs A measure of group atmosphere, the Group Environment Scale (GES), was administered to members and leaders of 12 sexual offender treatment groups: 8 were probation programs; 4 were conducted at a long-term residential center. The GES measured the following aspects of group processes: relationships within the group, personal growth of members, and structure of the group. Results suggested that the atmosphere of a group had an important influence on treatment change. A successful group was highly cohesive, was well organized and led, encouraged the open expression of feelings, produced a sense of group responsibility, and instilled a sense of hope in its members. A helpful and supportive leadership style was found to be important in creating an atmosphere in which effective therapy could take place. Overcontrolling leaders were seen to have a detrimental effect upon group climate. It is suggested that the employment of a group process measure, such as the GES, would be a useful inclusion to any outcome evaluation of treatment programs. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment SAGE

Therapeutic Climate of Sexual Offender Treatment Programs

Download PDF
19 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/sage/therapeutic-climate-of-sexual-offender-treatment-programs-FDT6OmghUx

References (19)

Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
Copyright © by SAGE Publications
ISSN
1079-0632
eISSN
1573-286X
DOI
10.1177/107906329700900306
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

A measure of group atmosphere, the Group Environment Scale (GES), was administered to members and leaders of 12 sexual offender treatment groups: 8 were probation programs; 4 were conducted at a long-term residential center. The GES measured the following aspects of group processes: relationships within the group, personal growth of members, and structure of the group. Results suggested that the atmosphere of a group had an important influence on treatment change. A successful group was highly cohesive, was well organized and led, encouraged the open expression of feelings, produced a sense of group responsibility, and instilled a sense of hope in its members. A helpful and supportive leadership style was found to be important in creating an atmosphere in which effective therapy could take place. Overcontrolling leaders were seen to have a detrimental effect upon group climate. It is suggested that the employment of a group process measure, such as the GES, would be a useful inclusion to any outcome evaluation of treatment programs.

Journal

Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment – SAGE

Published: Jul 1, 1997

There are no references for this article.