Effects of cognitive‐behavioural therapy (CBT) and positive psychological intervention (PPI) on female offenders with psychological distress in Hong Kong

Abstract

Our findings provide preliminary empirical support for the effectiveness of psychological interventions with psychologically distressed women in prison. It would be important now to conduct a full, randomised trial to determine optimal length and combinations of treatment. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Improving the Wellbeing of Female Prisoners via Psychological Skills Training: A Feasibility Study

“…Given that females are the fastest growing prisoner population and who also suffer from low wellbeing and high mental illness (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Canberra, 2015;Casey et al, 2015;Fazel et al, 2016;Maxwell et al, 2013), the findings in this study are promising. This study complements positive results by the limited number of studies that have previously integrated group psychological interventions using positive psychological principles and related constructs in offender populations (Ferszt et al, 2015;Mak & Chan, 2018). Mak and Chan (2018) explored the effect of cognitive behavioural therapy, strengths, gratitude, hope, and mindful awareness on women offenders' psychological distress and wellbeing.…”

“…This study complements positive results by the limited number of studies that have previously integrated group psychological interventions using positive psychological principles and related constructs in offender populations (Ferszt et al, 2015;Mak & Chan, 2018). Mak and Chan (2018) explored the effect of cognitive behavioural therapy, strengths, gratitude, hope, and mindful awareness on women offenders' psychological distress and wellbeing. The results showed a significant decrease in psychological distress and increase in wellbeing.…”

“…In extreme cases, some countries have more individuals with mental illnesses in prison than there are in psychiatric hospitals (Fazel et al., 2016). In Australia, the impact of mental disorder is greatest for female prisoners and prisoners of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent, who are at higher risk of suffering from mental illnesses compared to the general (male) population (Bartels & Gaffney, 2011; Fazel et al., 2016; Mak & Chan, 2018; Maxwell et al., 2013). This trend has also been observed in other minority and indigenous populations around the world (Norris, 2019).…”

“…The limited evidence on the application of psychological group interventions that use positive psychological principles and related constructs such as mindfulness within prison populations has shown promising results. A study integrating positive psychology interventions and cognitive behavioural therapy indicated a significant decrease in female prisoner’s psychological distress and increase in psychological wellbeing (Mak & Chan, 2018). A small-scale pilot study found promising results for mindfulness-based programs levels of stress for incarcerated women (Ferszt et al., 2015).…”

Can Positive Psychology Improve Psychological Well-Being and Economic Decision-Making? Experimental Evidence from Kenya

“…There has also been considerable diversity with respect to the subject pool: studies include university students, elementary school students, teachers, elderly populations, and patients with a broad range of medical disorders. For example, two recent studies conducted in Hong Kong (that were not included in the meta-analysis discussed above) used positive psychology interventions using gratitude writing with health care workers (Cheng et al, 2015) and female prisoners (Mak and Chan, 2018). Both found improvements in subjective well-being of 0.9 SD.…”