School of Social and Political Sciences - Research Publications
Permanent URI for this collection
Search Results
1 - 7 of 7
-
ItemUrgent issues and prospects in correctional rehabilitation practice and research(WILEY, 2022-09)Abstract The aim of this paper is to identify some of the urgent issues currently confronting criminal justice policymakers, researchers and practitioners. To this end a diverse group of researchers and clinicians have collaborated to identify pressing concerns in the field and to make some suggestions about how to proceed in the future. The authors represent individuals with varying combinations of criminal justice research, professional training (e.g. social work, criminal justice, criminology, social work, clinical psychology) and clinical orientation, and experience. The paper is comprised of 13 commentaries and a subsequent discussion based on these reflections. The commentaries are divided into the categories of explanation of criminal behaviour, clinical assessment and correctional intervention, and cover issues ranging from the role of clinical expertise in treatment, problems with risk assessment to the adverse effects of social oppression on minority groups. Following the commentaries, we summarize some of their key themes and briefly discuss a number of major issues likely to confront the field in the next 5–10 years.
-
ItemNo Preview Available“What matters is what works?”: The use of evidence in correctional settings.(ICPA, 2021)In this article we consider the value of different types of ‘evidence’ from the perspectives of a correctional agency research director and a university researcher. We discuss both the feasibility and the desirability of collecting the type of evidence that has largely informed correctional policy and practice and argue that there is a need to broaden our methodological frame to address the gaps that exist in our current knowledge base and the problems that inevitably arise when trying to translate research findings into practice.
-
ItemDeveloping youth justice policy and programme design in Australia(WILEY, 2022-06)Abstract The national Closing the Gap reform provides a mandate for mainstream organisations to undergo structural transformation to better address the needs and concerns of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. In the criminal justice sector, the reform resonates strongly with ongoing discussions about how both policy and practice can address the significant over‐representation of Aboriginal people across the criminal justice system. One way that structural transformation can occur is through the genuine involvement of Aboriginal knowledge holders and communities in policy development. This study illustrates how this might happen in relation to youth justice policy and programme design. Eighteen Aboriginal community members from a town in rural New South Wales participated in a series of interviews relevant to the Closing the Gap target. Qualitative content analysis was used to identify four key themes relevant to the development of justice policy: supporting cultural identity in a post‐colonial context; articulating strengths and resources which can be mobilised in the community; the centrality of poverty to offending; and responding to intergenerational trauma. The study illustrates how non‐Indigenous policymakers and practitioners might approach the task of engagement and consultation by identifying Aboriginal knowledge as a legitimate epistemic resource that they can draw upon to guide the ongoing development of evidence‐based policy and programmes.
-
ItemEvaluation of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health First Aid Program(WILEY, 2021-02)OBJECTIVE: This study reports findings from an uncontrolled evaluation of a course designed to educate participants in how to recognise and respond to mental health problems until professional help is received. METHODS: Utilising a mixed methods design, participants in 21 different courses, delivered across two Australian states, were invited to complete pre-, post-, and follow-up surveys and provide qualitative feedback on their training experiences. RESULTS: Participants reported feeling more confident in their capacity to respond appropriately to a person presenting with a mental health need and believed they would be more likely to provide assistance. Satisfaction was attributed to the skills and sensitivities of instructors who had lived experience of mental health concerns in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. CONCLUSION: This course holds promise in improving mental health literacy in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health. Implications for public health: Few courses are available that address issues relating to the social and emotional wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People. This study illustrates how community engagement with primary health and specialist mental health services might be strengthened.
-
ItemLive psychotherapy by video versus in-person: A meta-analysis of efficacy and its relationship to types and targets of treatment(WILEY, 2021-11)In-person psychotherapy (IPP) has a long and storied past, but technology advances have ushered in a new era of video-delivered psychotherapy (VDP). In this meta-analysis, pre-post changes within VDP were evaluated as were outcome differences between VDP versus IPP or other comparison groups. A literature search identified k = 56 within-group studies (N = 1681 participants) and 47 between-group studies (N = 3564). The pre-post effect size of VDP was large and highly significant, g = +0.99 95% CI [0.67-0.31]. VDP was significantly better in outcome than wait list controls (g = 0.77) but negligible in difference from IPP. Within-groups heterogeneity of effect sizes was reduced after subgrouping studies by treatment target, of which anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (each with k > 5) had effect sizes nearing 1.00. Disaggregating within-groups studies by therapy type, the effect size was 1.34 for CBT and 0.66 for non-CBT. Adjusted for possible publication bias, the overall effect size of VDP within groups was g = 0.54. In conclusion, substantial and significant improvement occurs from pre- to post-phases of VDP, this in turn differing negligibly from IPP treatment outcome. The VDP improvement is most pronounced when CBT is used, and when anxiety, depression, or PTSD are targeted, and it remains strong though attenuated by publication bias. Clinically, therapy is no less efficacious when delivered via videoconferencing than in-person, with efficacy being most pronounced in CBT for affective disorders. Live psychotherapy by video emerges not only as a popular and convenient choice but also one that is now upheld by meta-analytic evidence.
-
ItemDo Risk Assessments Play a Role in the Enduring ‘Color Line’?(ICPA, 2020)This paper presents some of the arguments that have been put forward to suggest that current risk assessments are inherently biased and disproportionally disadvantage people of color in Western correctional systems. We suggest that this is a key area of concern for all correctional professionals and that new methods of risk assessment and approaches to training are needed. In our view, without this people of color will continue to be misclassified, over-assessed, placed in the wrong rehabilitation pathways, imprisoned and/or supervised longer than needed, and consequently remaining overrepresented in the correctional system.
-
Item