Social problem solving in vulnerable adult prisoners: profile and intervention

A comparison of treatment completers and non‐completers of an in‐patient treatment programme for male personality‐disordered offenders

“…In previous research, we found that RPS was not associated with personality disorder (McMurran, Duggan, Christopher, & Huband, 2007). Comparing RPS scores of this sample with those of other groups, we see that male mature students have the highest mean RPS score at 44.78 ( SD = 12.60; McMurran, Blair, & Egan, 2002), with completers ( M = 34.71, SD = 18.16) showing similar scores to those of adult male prisoners ( M = 37.49, SD = 17.17; Hayward, McMurran, & Sellen, 2007), and non‐completers having the lowest scores of all ( M = 23.83, SD = 16.59). It appears that RPS may be relevant to rule keeping, with offenders lower than non‐offenders, and those offenders who breach a treatment contract lowest of all.…”

“…With a mean of 20.52 (SD ¼ 7:59), completers had high ICS scores compared with male mature students ( M ¼ 10:97, SD ¼ 5:84; McMurran et al, 2002) and adult male prisoners ( M ¼ 15:02, SD ¼ 10:03; Hayward et al, 2007). It cannot, therefore, be said that completers were low on impulsive problem solving, however, their better rational problem-solving abilities compared with non-completers may help them overcome their impulsivity.…”

Criminal thinking styles and emotional intelligence in Egyptian offenders

“…There are already some interventions that were designed primarily to improve some subcomponents of emotional intelligence in offenders. For example, the ‘Stop & Think’ social problem‐solving intervention achieved significant improvements using personality‐disordered offenders and vulnerable prisoners (McMurran et al, ; Hayward et al, ). A more recent study also found that improving the recognition of facial expressions (as a means of increasing empathy) reduces anger and aggressive behaviours (Penton‐Voak et al, in press).…”

Psychoeducation with problem-solving (PEPS) therapy for adults with personality disorder: a pragmatic randomised controlled trial to determine the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a manualised intervention to improve social functioning

“…6 (37) 7 (38) 3 (28) 4 (21) 5 (40) 7 (45) 3 (22) Drop-in centre 10 (64) 28 (237) 5 (26) 7 (34) 6 (28) 3 (19) 50 (504) 4 (34)…”

“…31,36,37 Detained PD offenders were identified as performing poorly in all aspects of social problem-solving compared with offenders with no PD and non-offenders. 38,39 A pilot study of a psychoeducational intervention aimed at clarifying the offenders' PD diagnosis and identifying associated problems led to an increase in patients' knowledge about PD and improved the therapeutic alliance. 34 A brief problem-solving therapy was evaluated with this client group, finding that social problem-solving abilities improved post therapy and that this improvement was sustained at a 6-month follow-up.…”