NCJ Number
217453
Journal
Legal and Criminological Psychology Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2007 Pages: 83-100
Date Published
February 2007
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This paper reports on the construction and testing of a scale designed to assess the personal and professional effects on treatment providers of working with sex offenders.
Abstract
The scale, entitled Assessment of Dynamic Adaptation (ADA), successfully measured treatment providers' negative reaction to sex offenders (NRO), which significantly correlated positively with "rumination" (preoccupation with emotionally distressing events or experiences) and emotional sensitivity, as well as inversely with detached coping. The NRO factor captures a range of negative emotions that have been linked with treating sex offenders as well as with more general attitudes toward sexual abuse, such as anger, suspicion, cynicism, frustration, and anxiety. The ADA might be used as a screening device for identifying potential trainees who might be vulnerable to the emotional challenges of working with sex offenders. This could guide the training they receive. The ADA could also be used to evaluate the effectiveness of training programs for sex offender treatment providers. A scenario technique was used to elicit initial items for the ADA based on exploratory factor analysis of the responses to the scenarios by 182 prison staff providing sex offender treatment at the time of the study. A 3-factor scale of 61 items composed the ADA. They measure coping style, emotional style, and satisfaction with work. The ADA was validated with an independent sample of 165 providers of sex offender treatment. 1 table, 50 references, and appended factor loading for impact scale items