NCJ Number
103141
Date Published
Unknown
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This 1984 New York Study examined the effects of three service conditions on the postcrime adjustment of victims of a variety of crimes.
Abstract
The three treatments were traditional crisis counseling, which involves psychological and material assistance; cognitive counseling, used in conjunction with crisis counseling; and material assistance only. In a fourth no-treatment condition, victims received no services. Victims were randomly recruited to one of the four treatment conditions using police felony complaint records in eight New York City precincts. Victims in all conditions were administered an assessment battery that included mood measures (the Affect Balance Scale), posttraumatic stress (the Impact of Event Scale), general psychopathology (the (the Impact of Event Scale), general psychopathology (the Symptom Checklist 90-R), fear of crime, and social adjustment. Victims were assessed through inperson interviews conducted within the first month after the crime (before treatment) and 3 months later (after treatment). A total of 249 victims completed the first interview, and 188 completed the followup interview. The sample was composed of burglary victims (39 percent), robbery victims (34 percent), assault victims (24 percent), and rape victims (2 percent). On the pretest, no differences between treatment groups were apparent on any of the measures of psychological adjustment. Between the first and second assessments, scores on most of the measures improved significantly for the sample as a whole. Improvement was no greater for victims in any of the treatment groups compared to one another or to the control group. Suggestions for future research and 3 data tables.