Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences - Theses
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ItemChecklist of offence pathways for rapists: a clinician's guide to informed intervention( 2005-12)The violent sexual assault of women and the rehabilitation of its perpetrators is an area of crime that has been scarcely researched. The problem of sexual aggression is multi-dimensional and accordingly a comprehensive assessment needs to address a wide range of psychological vulnerabilities and offence process characteristics to enhance treatment customisation. The purpose of this study was to create a clinician rated measure for the treatment classification of rapists – Checklist of Offence Pathways – Rapist Version - and to assess the measure’s reliability and validity. The 15-item measure was created using the framework of the pathways model (Ward & Hudson, 1998; Ward, Hudson, & Keenan, 1998). The measure was divided into two subscales measuring approach vs. avoidant goals and active vs. passive strategies. Both subscales demonstrated significant interrater reliability (r = .53 and r = .46, respectively) as well as internal consistency (a = .50 and a = .60, respectively). The majority (80%) of the inter-item correlations were uncorrelated or weak indicating that the test items were measuring separate constructs. Validity analysis indicated that a number of test items displayed convergent and discriminant validity with established psychometric scales. Overall these results suggest that this measure provides a useful framework for understanding sexual aggression and selecting treatment strategies for rapists, while avoiding some of the pitfalls associated with dissimulation in self-report measures.