Engagement in treatment amongst a forensic population

This thesis aims to provide a detailed understanding of treatment engagement amongst forensic populations. Following an introduction outlining the current theoretical thinking in the area, Chapter 2 presents a systematic literature review exploring reasons for completion/non-completion of treatment from an offender's perspective. Consensus regarding reasons for treatment completion/non-completion was found. Reasons provided supported the majority of factors outlined in the Multifactor Offender Readiness Model (MORM), a model of treatment readiness. Research in this area was limited; no papers exploring adolescents' perspectives were identified. Implications for practice are discussed and areas for future research highlighted. Furthering existing research, Chapter 3 presents a mixed methods research study exploring the reasons why young people, detained in a secure hospital setting choose to attend/not attend sessions. Using thematic analysis several themes were identified. Factors relating to the young person, treatment and the organisation were identified, supporting the MORM. Chapter 4 presents a critical review of the Corrections Victoria Treatment Readiness Questionnaire (CVTRQ), a measure of treatment readiness developed using the internal factors of the MORM. This chapter explores the overall development and psychometric properties of the CVTRQ, highlighting its strengths and limitations. An overall discussion of the work presented is provided in Chapter 5.