Changes in the Working Alliance Over the Course of Prison-Based Sexual Offender Treatment

• In Event: Relationships Matter: Legitimacy, Procedural Justice, and the Working Alliance in Prisons and Jails

Abstract

Despite psychotherapy literature identifies the client-therapist relationship as a key factor contributing to client outcomes, few studies have examined the client-clinician relationship in the context of criminal justice treatment settings. This is surprising given many criminal justice intervention models include quality of the client-practitioner relationship. The current study aimed to fill this void. We first examined whether on average sexual offender perceptions of the working alliance changed over the course of sexual offender treatment. In other words, could the relationship between clinician and client improve over the course of treatment? The sample comprised 202 male sexual offenders who participated in sexual offender treatment while incarcerated. All participants completed the Working Alliance Inventory (WAI; Horvath & Greenburg, 1989) after three months in treatment and at the completion of treatment. Next, we examined whether certain sexual offenders were more (or less) likely to perceive an improved relationship, such as those with mental health or personality disorders. Findings have important practical implications as they relate to offender rehabilitation and implications for research development on the working alliance in the context of the criminal justice system.

Authors

• Brianne Kane, Sam Houston State University

• Brandy L. Blasko, Sam Houston State University