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Several variables have been associated with the tendency to seek psychological help. For example, attitudes, psychological distress, and treatment fearfulness have all been associated with mental health professionals and whether individuals seek help from counsellors. The aims of this study were: (1) to examine whether individuals seek help from mental health professionals, and (2) to assess the validity and utility of a short form of the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale (ATSPPHS) for assessing prison inmates' helpseeking attitudes. In addition, the relative impact of components of treatment fearfulness and psychological distress on helpseeking attitudes was assessed. Results were consistent with previous research, and indicated that male inmates (N = 173) have similar scores on the ATSPPHS to other male samples. Stigma-related treatment fears and psychological distress were significant unique predictors of attitudes toward professional psychological helpseeking. Factor analysis revealed a single general factor for the ATSPPHS. The potential utility of the brief version of the

This study sought to investigate the way in which offenders moved through the stages of change. The University of Rhode Island Change Assessment Scale (URICA) was administered to a group of general offenders (N = 371) who participated in the Short Motivational Programme (SMP), a brief motivational interviewing programme administered to medium-risk offenders in New Zealand. The offenders' URICA responses were subjected to a cross-lagged panel analysis using structural equation modelling. Four models specifying different prospective associations between stage engagements were examined. It was hypothesised that there would be support for sequential transitions through the stages as proposed by the Stages of Change model. However, the analysis rendered support for and against sequential transitions, in that offenders regressed to earlier stages or skipped a stage post-SMP. Offenders who skipped to an adjacent stage after the SMP may have actually passed through an intermediary stage during the intervention, and those who regressed to an earlier stage post-SMP may have gained a more realistic awareness of their problem behaviour. This finding also raises questions about the practical utility of the model with offenders and highlights the need for more rigorous studies investigating the way offenders move through the stages of change.