Group climate and empathy in a sample of incarcerated boys van der Helm, G.H.P.; Stams, G.J.J.M.; van der Stel, J.C.; van Langen, M.A.M.; van der Laan, P.H. Disclaimer/Complaints regulationsIf you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: http://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. Download date: 10 May 2018Group climate and empathy in a youth correctional facility 2 2 Group climate and empathy in a youth correctional facility 3 3 AbstractThe present study examined the influence of group climate on empathy in a Dutch youth correctional facility in a sample of 59 incarcerated delinquent boys. Higher levels of empathy have been shown to be associated with less delinquent and more prosocial behaviour, and may therefore be vital for successful rehabilitation and recidivism reduction. Although empathy was originally considered to be a trait, recent neurobiological research has shown that empathy has state-like properties in that levels of empathy change in response to the social environment. The present study showed that differences in group climate were associated with cognitive empathy in juvenile delinquents, but not with affective empathy. It is speculated that inmates' state-depressive feelings and anxiety could diminish the effects of prison group climate on affective empathy. The discussion focuses on group dynamics in youth correctional facilities. A positive prison group climate in a youth correctional facility could turn out to be a major factor contributing to effectiveness of secure institutional treatment..

Health care professionals often face moral dilemmas. Not dealing constructively with moral dilemmas can cause moral distress and can negatively affect the quality of care. Little research has been documented with methodologies meant to support professionals in care for the homeless in dealing with their dilemmas. Moral case deliberation (MCD) is a method for systematic reflection on moral dilemmas and is increasingly being used as ethics support for professionals in various health-care domains. This study deals with the question: What is the contribution of MCD in helping professionals in an institution for care for the homeless to deal with their moral dilemmas? A mixed-methods responsive evaluation design was used to answer the research question. Five teams of professionals from a Dutch care institution for the homeless participated in MCD three times. Professionals in care for the homeless value MCD positively. They report that MCD helped them to identify the moral dilemma/question, and that they learned from other people's perspectives while reflecting and deliberating on the values at stake in the dilemma or moral question. They became aware of the moral dimension of moral dilemmas, of related norms and values, of other perspectives, and learned to formulate a moral standpoint. Some experienced the influence of MCD in the way they dealt with moral dilemmas in daily practice. Half of the professionals expect MCD will influence the way they deal with moral dilemmas in the future. Most of them were in favour of further implementation of MCD in their organization.

In the absence of a methodologically sound randomised controlled trial (4), clinicians could apply 'mechanistic reasoning', as described by Howick et al. (5) to evaluate the effectiveness of CTOs in individual patients. For instance, in a subgroup of patients who are chronically non-compliant with treatment leading to frequent relapses, CTOs result in a dramatic improvement in compliance with depot medication. If the CTO is lifted, non-compliance recurs. Here, the simple causal mechanism by which a CTO produces observable compliance can be directly assessed, and further improved clinical outcomes such as reduced hospitalisation could be reasonably expected and attributed to the CTO, in the absence of other plausible explanations.Recent figures (www.hscic.gov.uk) demonstrate that despite repeated claims of their ineffectiveness (1, 2), CTOs have remained substantially used by clinicians in England, with 4335 patients (25.3% of those who were subject to the Mental Health Act) being subject to a CTO at the end of January 2015.