NCJ Number
67931
Date Published
Unknown
Length
5 pages
Annotation
THE CHANGE AGENT PROGRAM IS EVALUATED FOR EFFECTS ON INMATES' LEVEL OF SELF-AWARENESS AND PERFORMANCE AND ON INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS IN A CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION SETTING.
Abstract
THE PROGRAM DEALS WITH THE AREAS OF FUNCTIONAL HELPING, HUMAN RELATIONS, SOCIAL PROBLEMS, EFFECTIVE SPEAKING, GROUP WORK, AND COUNSELING, AND IS BASED ON TECHNIQUES DEVELOPED BY DR. ROBERT CARKHUFF. THE PARTICIPANTS FIRST BECOME ACQUAINTED WITH ONE ANOTHER AND LEARN EFFECTIVE SPEAKING. THEN THE PROGRAM'S CONCEPTS ARE DISCUSSED: THE BASIC PARTS OF THERAPY, THE GOALS OF HELPING, THE MORALITY OF THERAPY, THE LEVELS OF RESPONSE, AND FUNCTIONAL HELPING. AFTER THIS, REALITY THERAPY, TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS, AND GESTALT AND SYNANON GAMES ARE TAUGHT, AND THE TECHNIQUES ARE DISCUSSED AND APPLIED. THE SAMPLE CONSISTED OF 22 INMATES FROM THREE CLASSES, AND NO CONTROL GROUP WAS ESTABLISHED. FOR EACH PARTICIPANT, A 24-ITEM EVALUATION QUESTIONNAIRE WAS FILLED OUT BY THE PARTICIPANT, THE INSTRUCTOR, THE CASEWORKER, THE COUNSELOR, THE EDUCATION SPECIALIST, THE WORK SUPERVISOR, AND THE UNIT SUPERVISOR BEFORE AND AFTER THE TREATMENT. ON A SCALE OF 24 TO 144 POINTS, THE OVERALL PRETEST MEAN SCORE WAS 95.7, AND THE POST TREATMENT SCORE WAS 99.4. CASEWORKERS REPORTED THE LARGEST AMOUNTS OF CHANGES IN THE PARTICIPANTS AFTER THE PROGRAM, WHILE THE COUNSELORS SAW THE SMALLEST. THE DIFFERENCE MAY BE BECAUSE OF THE RELATIVELY INFREQUENT CONTACTS BETWEEN CASEWORKERS AND INMATES. FURTHERMORE, THE RESULTS SUGGEST THAT STAFF WITH INFREQUENT INMATE CONTACTS ARE BETTER ABLE TO ASSESS CHANGES IN THE PARTICIPANTS. THE QUESTIONNAIRE ITEMS AND RESPONSES ARE NOT LISTED, AND FOOTNOTES AND TABLES ARE ABSENT. A REFERENCE LIST IS PROVIDED. (RJJ)