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The Offence Progression in Sexual Offenders: An Examination of the Self-Regulation Model of the Offence Process

The self-regulation model is an offence process model designed specifically for sexual offenders. It was developed as a result of theoretical and practical problems with the traditional relapse prevention approach to sexual offender treatment and from empirical evidence identifying variability in the offence chain among sexual offenders. The self-regulation model is a nine-phase process with four distinct pathways to sexual offending that represent the combination of offence-related goals (approach versus avoidance) and self-regulatory strategies selected to achieve the goal (passive/automatic versus active/explicit). In the present study, I evaluated the validity and utility of the self-regulation model in a sample of275 adult male sexual offenders treated within the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC). First, the concurrent validity of the study variables utilized as part of the overall assessment battery was examined in order to elucidate the relationships among the various treatment needs targeted by the CSC's sexual offender programs. Following this, differences among individuals following diverse self-regulation pathways were investigated, as was, within-treatment change following participation in CSC's sexual offender programs. Results showed that self-regulation pathway was differentially associated with risk to re-offend and several treatment needs. Finally, in terms of post-treatment change, moderate to large sized improvements were noted for dynamic risk assessment measures as well as several self-reported treatment targets. These changes were, in some cases, differentially associated with self-regulation pathway, suggesting that offence pathway is a clinically relevant variable when evaluating treatment change and in conceptualizing sexual offender treatment. Implications of these findings for the effective assessment and rehabilitation of sexual offenders are discussed.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/30073
Date January 2010
CreatorsKingston, Drew A
PublisherUniversity of Ottawa (Canada)
Source SetsUniversité d’Ottawa
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
Format193 p.

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