NCJ Number
225195
Journal
Federal Probation Volume: 72 Issue: 2 Dated: September 2008 Pages: 67-70
Date Published
September 2008
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article describes the development of the Officer Responses Questionnaire (ORQ), which is designed as a brief measure of probation officers’ reflective listening, a skill that is central to “motivational interviewing” (MI), which is an interview technique that facilitates a client’s motivation to change.
Abstract
The ORQ focuses on written empathic responses to scenarios that depict common situations encountered in community corrections settings. Initial analyses suggest that the ORQ can be reliably scored and that officers improve their ability to generate reflective responses as a result of attending a 2-day introductory workshop in MI. As part of a training evaluation effort, the ORQ is being used as one skill measure in the Federal probation system. The development of the ORQ began with an analysis of the Helpful Responses Questionnaire (HRQ) developed by Miller and colleagues. It measures the ability to respond emphatically to a person being interviewed. With the permission of the developers of the HRQ, the scale was modified to address situations that are more common to probation and parole officers. The developers of the ORQ identified situations that officers might face in their daily interactions with probation/parole clients. The five scenarios involve substance use, aggressive behavior, drug testing, and employment. After each paragraph, a space is provided for the respondent to write a response. Each officer response is rated on depth of reflection and ability to avoid communication roadblocks. Following initial development of the ORQ, it was used in MI training as a pre/post measure of reflective listening. Changes in scoring methodology were made that standardized the scoring procedure in order to minimize differences among scorers. 1 figure, 3 tables, and 19 references