A comparison of treatment completers and non-completers of an in-patient treatment programme for male personality-disordered offenders

Abstract

Background. In the treatment of offenders with personality disorders, one matter that requires attention is the rate of treatment non-completion. This is important as it has cost-efficiency and negative outcome implications. Method. We compared the characteristics of those who participated in a personality disorder treatment programme divided into three groups: Group 1, treatment completers (N = 21); Group 2, those expelled for rule breaking (N = 16); and Group 3, those removed because they were not engaging in treatment (N = 19). We hypothesized that, compared with the other two groups, Group 2 would score higher on the impulsive/careless style scale, and that those in Group 3 would score higher on the avoidant style scale of the social problem-solving inventory-revised (SPSI-R). Further, we hypothesized that high anxiety would be associated with treatment non-completion in both the groups. Results. These differences were not found. However, in combining both groups of non-completers for comparison, completers were shown to score significantly higher on SPSI-R rational problem solving and significantly lower on SPSI-R impulsive/careless style. Conclusion. Findings suggest that teaching impulsive people a rational approach to social problem solving may reduce their level of non-completion.