U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Measuring Treatment Change in Sex Offenders: Clinical and Statistical Significance

NCJ Number
233313
Journal
Criminal Justice and Behavior Volume: 38 Issue: 2 Dated: February 2011 Pages: 157-173
Author(s)
Kevin L. Nunes; Kelly M. Babchishin; Franca Cortoni
Date Published
February 2011
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This study assessed treatment change at both the group level and the individual level for sex offenders.
Abstract
The main purpose of this study was to assess treatment change at both the group level and the individual level with a sample of 313 adult male sex offenders. Generally, the results from the group-level analyses were more positive than those from the individual-level analyses. The group-level analyses revealed significant change of medium magnitude on most of the measures, whereas the individual-level analyses indicated more modest gains, with approximately one third of participants showing reliable change and reaching functional levels posttreatment. When representative norms are available, clinical significance provides a clear and established method not only for assessing the effectiveness of sex offender treatment programs but also for evaluating the progress of individual clients.(Published Abstract)