2. Aim To assess whether anger-management programme work with a group of young male offenders.
3. Sample 50 prisoners who had completed an anger management course and a control group of 37 prisoners who had been assessed as suitable for such a course but had not actually completed one. They were matched therefore on the following three criteria: (see next slide :D )
4. Their responses to a cognitive interview. The Wing Behavioural Checklist (WBC) which was completed by prison officers rating 29 angry behaviours with scores 0, 1 or 2 for the week before the interview. A self-report questionnaire on anger management (AMA) with 53 items completed by the prisoners themselves.
5. Methodology A quasi experiment taking advantage of the two naturally occurring groups. The measures above were given to the prisoners in the treatment group before and after they completed the programme; the control group also got them twice but without any intervention in between.
6. Results There was a significant reduction in prison wing based aggression in the experimental group but not the control group. The experimental group scored lower on the self report measures after completing the course but there was no difference in the control group. Overall, 92% of the prisoners in the experimental group showed improvement on at least one measure. 48% on two measures and 8% showed deterioration on both measures upon completing the course.
7. Conclusions In the short term these prisoners appeared to be helped by the programme, but in this case we have no re-conviction data further down the line. It is interesting that 8% actually got worse, which would require further investigation.
