Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Publication
    Evaluation of functional family therapy in an Irish context
    In an Irish context we conducted a retrospective archival study of functional family therapy (FFT) for adolescents with behavioural problems. Strengths and difficulties questionnaire data were collected from 118 families at the beginning and end of therapy (at baseline and follow up for dropouts) in a community-based clinic in a socially disadvantaged Dublin suburb. Analyses of the improvement in mean scores and clinical recovery rates showed that the outcome was associated with treatment completion and the extent to which therapists adhered to the FFT treatment manual. Therapy completers treated by high-adherent therapists had the most favourable outcome. In contrast, the worst outcome occurred for dropouts. The outcome of cases treated by low-adherent therapists fell between these two extremes. These results show that FFT may be effectively implemented in an Irish context, and that the effectiveness of treatment is associated with families remaining in treatment for an average of seventeen sessions, and receiving treatment from therapists who implement FFT with a high degree of fidelity.
      776Scopus© Citations 25
  • Publication
    Psychological characteristics of Irish clerical sexual offenders
    (Routledge (Taylor & Francis), 2011-09) ; ; ;
    Controlled studies suggest that clerical child sexual offenders may be better adjusted psychologically than their lay counterparts, although no studies of Irish clerical offenders have been reported. The aim of this study was to compare clerical and non-clerical sexual offenders with a normal control group, within an Irish context, on broad-band personality traits and narrow-band psychological characteristics that have been identified as risk factors for child sexual abuse. Thirty clerical men and 73 laymen who had sexually abused children and 30 lay controls completed the NEO Personality Inventory Revised (NEO-PI-R), the Sexual Offender Assessment Pack (SOAP) and the Multiphasic Sex Inventory (MSI). The three groups differed significantly on 11 of 18 dependent variables. The only variable which distinguished between the two groups of offenders was conscientiousness, with clerical offenders being more conscientious than lay offenders. The two groups of offenders showed significantly lower self-esteem than normal controls and scores indicative of greater denial on the MSI sexual social desirability scale. However, they also showed greater agreeableness and empathic concern than the control group. Compared with the control group, the lay offenders (but not the clerical offenders) showed greater neuroticism, less extraversion, less openness, greater emotional loneliness and more sensitivity to personal distress in others than the control group but also showed greater assertiveness. These results indicate that there were few differences between clerical and lay sexual offenders, and that clerical offenders differed from normal controls less than lay offenders on the Big Five personality traits and psychological risk factors for sexual offending assessed by the SOAP and MSI.
    Scopus© Citations 8  906