Understanding motivation and what works to motivate male offenders into engaging with treatment: A rapid evidence assessment

Abstract

Background:The development of motivational programmes that are able to successfully enhance offenders’ readiness for treatment could mean that more individuals may decide to partake in programmes.Aims:The aim of this research is to explore the existing evidence on the topic in order to answer two main questions: 1) What factors are associated with motivation to engage in interventions?; 2) What works as best practice for motivation and readiness enhancement?Method:This study utilised a Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA) methodology, looking in particular at the existing studies with the following characteristics: English language, published globally, between the years 2005–2020, and Peer-reviewed-only.Results:From a total of 3596 papers obtained with the initial searches, a total of six studies were eventually selected as the most suitable for this review overall. These covered three main areas: (1) assessments tools currently available; (2) factors specifically associated with motivation and readiness; and (3) relevant processes/interventions that directly affect motivation or readiness.Conclusions/Implications for practice:With regards to the factors (and barriers) linked to motivation and readiness to engage with treatment, the evidence presented in this review confirmed the multi-factorial nature of these concepts. The proposed synthesis seems to be in line with what is outlined within the Multifactor Offender Readiness Model (MORM; Ward et al., 2004) and the main point that emerged from this review is that offenders’ motivation and readiness is best understood through aspects that are both internal to the person or that depend on individuals, and external, in the features of the context, environment and people that surround them. As regards interventions to enhance readiness and motivation, the evidence is rather limited and mainly restricted to specific types of offenders; based on what is available, it appears that some interventions with this purpose can have positive effects on individuals.