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O'Reilly, Gary
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O'Reilly, Gary
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O'Reilly, Gary
Research Output
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A robust method for the evaluation of prison based sex offender treatment programmes
2000-01, O'Reilly, Gary, Murphy, Paul, Cotter, Anthony, Carr, Alan
This paper outlines the approach to evaluating the sex offender treatment programme
currently running in the Irish prison system. It begins with an introduction to the scope
of the problem of sexual offending as reflected by the extent of the prison population in
Ireland who have been convicted of a variety of sexual offences. It then outlines two key
points that can be gleaned from several decades of general research on evaluating the
effectiveness of psychological treatments while indicating how they have been included
in our present research. We also describe the variety of data sources that need to be
incorporated into an effective evaluation of prison based sex offender treatment
programmes. We conclude with an introduction to some preliminary findings from our
on-going research. These finding high-light the return in terms of more reliable
information when care is taken in developing a robust method for the evaluation of
prison-based sex offender treatment programmes.
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Publication
A controlled evaluation of a prison based sexual offender intervention programme
2010-03, O'Reilly, Gary, Carr, Alan, Murphy, Paul, Cotter, Anthony
The effectiveness of a prison-based cognitive behavioral program designed to modify
psychological risk factors associated with sexual offending was evaluated. The Irish
Prison Service Sexual Offender Intervention Programme, is a manualized 10-month
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy [CBT] program involving three 2-hour group sessions
per week, which are facilitated by a team of clinical psychologists and probation
officers. Improvements in 38 consecutive referrals to the program were compared
with the status of 38 untreated offenders who were similar in marital status, age when
they left school, occupational status prior to imprisonment, offence type, presence of
previous convictions, and current sentence length. All research participants completed
the same assessment protocol, which evaluated psychological factors associated with
sexual offending at times equivalent to pre- and postintervention. Compared with
the untreated control group, program participants showed statistically significant
improvement on some but not all self-report measures of cognitive distortions,
empathy, interpersonal skills, self-regulation, and relapse prevention. Motivation
to change among the untreated control group was not associated with change in
psychological functioning in the absence of the assistance of the treatment program.
Implications for sexual offender intervention delivery are considered.