First-stage evaluation of a treatment programme for personality disordered offenders

A first-stage evaluation of a treatment programme for personality disordered offenders conducted in a high-security setting is reported. Drawing on the literature, the treatment programme was designed to modify a range of clinical targets. The marked lack of standardized measures made finegrained evaluation impossible to achieve. A methodology was therefore employed that was based on global change over an amalgam of outcome measures. Analysis revealed significant clinical gains as assessed by the global change measure. Level of global change did not correlate significantly with age, IQ, time in institutions, or time at risk. However, scores on the Psychopathy Checklist Revised (PCL-R) showed a significant negative correlation with global change. Further, analysis showed that this negative relationship was due to scores on PCL-R factor 1 (interpersonal style) not factor 2 (unstable lifestyle). The findings with regard to PCL-R scores both are consistent with the literature and show the importance of considering the factor structure of that instrument. It is concluded that this preliminary study has shown that positive clinical gains can be made in secure settings with a traditionally difficult patient group.