Therapeutic effects of a cognitive-behavioural treatment with juvenile offenders

Several treatment evaluations have highlighted the effectiveness of cognitivebehavioural programmes with both youth and adult offenders. This paper describes the application and assessment of a cognitivebehavioural treatment (adapted to Spanish from Ross and Fabiano's Reasoning and Rehabilitati...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Redondo, Santiago, Martínez Catena, Ana, Andrés Pueyo, Antonio
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2012
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de la UB
OAI Identifier:oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/159428
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/159428
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Delinqüència juvenil
Teràpia cognitiva per a adolescents
Rehabilitació cognitiva
Juvenile delinquency
Cognitive therapy for teenagers
Cognitive remediation
Descripción
Sumario:Several treatment evaluations have highlighted the effectiveness of cognitivebehavioural programmes with both youth and adult offenders. This paper describes the application and assessment of a cognitivebehavioural treatment (adapted to Spanish from Ross and Fabiano's Reasoning and Rehabilitation Programme) with juvenile offenders serving community orders in an educational measure called in Spanish 'libertad vigilada' (similar to parole). The intervention comprised six different therapeutic components: self-control, cognitive restructuring, problem solving, social skills/assertiveness, values/empathy, and relapse prevention. Treatment effectiveness was tested using a quasi-experimental design involving two groups and pre/post evaluation. The results show that the programme was effective (with low to moderate effect sizes) in improving participants' social skills and self-esteem, as well as in reducing their aggressiveness. However, the intervention had no positive influence on empathy, cognitive distortions or impulsiveness. These results are in line with those of many other correctional studies, in which the treatment applied had a significant but partial effect on participants.