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Therapists' beliefs, attitudes, and practices regarding the importance of targeting motivations for pedophilic abuse in its treatment

<p> This dissertation explored the opinions and practice of therapists who treat individuals with pedophilia regarding the role of motivation in pedophilic acts. The generic qualitative study involved eight therapists currently treating pedophiles in private practice, or affiliated to a civil commitment agency. The study participants were interviewed and the data collected analyzed by inductive thematic analysis. The results show that, although the therapists state that the cognitive behavioral approach is the best form of treatment in this context, it is necessary to augment it with other strategies in order to obtain more cognition and, therefore, control pedophilic behavior. None of the participants was able to ascertain that therapy actually prevents pedophilic recidivism due to the fact that they don't have means to find out whether the treatment of their patients was successful. There was a general consensus that the pedophilic urges may never disappear, only the behavior controlled. Finally, the results reveal that the participating therapists do not perceive the motivational factors leading to pedophilia as an essential component in therapy that should be deeply studied. Instead, the value appears to be given to stopping behavior as soon as possible. </p>

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:3639377
Date21 November 2014
CreatorsSilva, Karen B.
PublisherCapella University
Source SetsProQuest.com
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typethesis

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