Predictors of Treatment Attrition as Indicators for Program Improvement not Offender Shortcomings: A Study of Sex Offender Treatment Attrition

Abstract

This study classified potential attrition predictors under the domains of risk, need and responsivity (D. Andrews & J. Bonta, 2003). Non-sexual criminogenic needs (e.g. aggression, rule violating behaviors) and responsivity factors (e.g. lack of motivation and denial) were the two main clusters of predictors that correctly classified 95.3% of program completers and non-completers using discriminant function analysis in a sample of high-risk male sexual offenders treated in an accredited inpatient sex offender treatment program. Rapists were more aggressive than other types of sex offenders and were more likely to drop out of treatment. Some studies of predictors of treatment attrition have used offender problem behaviors or psychopathologies to predict attrition and then use the information to exclude offenders from treatment. Others have argued, and we concur, that results of attrition research should not be used to develop an "attrition profile" to exclude offenders from treatment. Predictors of attrition should be seen as markers for program improvement, rather than shortcomings of the offender. Suggestions for program improvements to reduce the rate of attrition, based on results of research, are presented.

Treatment non-completion in high-risk violent offenders: looking beyond criminal risk and criminogenic needs

“…Taken together, these results suggest that the programme was designed and delivered in a manner that accommodated the challenges of retaining these men in treatment. As Beyko and Wong (2005) imply, if the programme was not responsive in this way, it would be left with few participants. Two additional sources of information support this argument: (a) the low rate of therapist-initiated expulsions suggests that programme staff saw it as their responsibility to retain difficult clients; and (b) the average stay of nearly 3 months for noncompleters suggests that decisions to leave were not taken lightly by therapists or offenders.…”

Kicked Out or Dropped Out? Disaggregating the Effects of Community-based Treatment Attrition on Juvenile Recidivism

“…Results of a meta-analysis conducted by Olver, Stockdale, and Wormith (2011), which includes more than 120 studies and 41,000 offenders, confirms this finding across multiple intervention types to show that treatment attrition is associated with increased odds of recidivism. Specifically, studies have found that program attrition is related to increased reoffending for adult sex offenders (Beyko & Wong, 2005;Marques, Day, Nelson, & West, 1994;Wormith & Olver, 2002), domestic violence offenders (Daly & Pelowski, 2000), violent offenders (Polaschek, 2011), and drug abusers (Hiller, Knight, & Simpson, 1999a, 1999bLang & Belenko, 2000;Mateyoke-Scrivner, Webster, Staton, & Leukfeld, 2004) and for offenders in general treatment programs (Bouffard & Muftic, 2006;Hatcher, McGuire, Bilby, Palmer, & Hollin, 2012). The literature analyzing juvenile offenders confirms those findings to show that delinquents who fail to complete sex offender (Edwards et al, 2005;Hunter & Figueredo, 1999;Worling & Curwen, 2000) and substance abuse treatment (Hser et al, 2001;Williams & Chang, 2000) are also more likely to reoffend.…”

Psychotherapy Experiences of Perpetrators of Child Sexual Abuse

“…Because participants in this study reported benefit from therapy, this sample undoubtedly differs from sex offenders who had no opportunity to receive therapy or dropped out. Failure to engage in therapy is a known predictor of sex offender treatment attrition (Beyko & Wong, 2005). We are cognizant that some sex offenders refuse, or deny the need for, treatment, such as the "repeat offender" and "the pretender" described by Jones and Lawson (2012).…”