Evaluating community-based treatment programmes for men who sexually abuse children

The currently dominant multi-factorial explanations of sex offending have been reflected in the widespread adoption of cognitive-behavioural groupwork methods where treatment foci are those attitudes, beliefs, cognitions and behaviours believed to contribute towards the maintenance of sexually abusive practices. Community-based programmes have mushroomed during this decade, with 97% of regional probation services now having provision for sex offender treatment. However, these relatively recent and dramatic developments of practice have to a large extent occurred outside of a framework of rigorous planning and evaluation. This article begins by outlining a rationale for both the treatment of sex offenders and evaluating programmes. This is followed by a framework for evaluation within which treatment providers can consider the issues involved (including the methodological difficulties) in setting up research designed to evaluate treatment effectiveness. It is suggested that, while small-scale (in-house) research may tell us something about the success or otherwise of individual programmes, it is the larger-scale projects carried out by independent researchers that will inform us as to the impact of cognitive-behavioural group work on recidivism and offence-related psychological variables. Such research has the potential to assist policy-makers and to aid managers and practitioners in the development of effective treatment programmes. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Balancing required resources and neighborhood opposition in community-based treatment center neighborhoods.

This paper analyzes the compatibility of two characteristics of neighborhoods containing community-based treatment centers (CBTCs): the availability of resources that can be used in treatment and the likelihood of neighborhood opposition. Do CBTC neighborhoods having high levels of geographically based resources also have characteristics associated with low opposition to these centers? The findings suggest that among neighborhoods with centers serving adults, inner-city transitional neighborhoods where low opposition would be expected have significantly higher levels of treatment resources than do more affluent, suburban neighborhoods. The implications of these findings for selecting sites for community-based treatment centers are discussed.     

Building a community-based culture of evaluation

In this article we argue for a community-based approach as a means of promoting a culture of evaluation. We do this by linking two bodies of knowledge – the 70-year theoretical tradition of community-based research and the trans-discipline of program evaluation – that are seldom intersected within the evaluation capacity building literature. We use the three hallmarks of a community-based research approach (community-determined; equitable participation; action and change) as a conceptual lens to reflect on a case example of an evaluation capacity building program led by the Ontario Brian Institute. This program involved two community-based groups (Epilepsy Southwestern Ontarioand the South West Alzheimer Society Alliance) who were supported by evaluators from the Centre for Community Based Research to conduct their own internal evaluation. The article provides an overview of a community-based research approach and its link to evaluation. It then describes the featured evaluation capacity building initiative, including reflections by the participating organizations themselves. We end by discussing lessons learned and their implications for future evaluation capacity building. Our main argument is that organizations that strive towards a community-based approach to evaluation are well placed to build and sustain a culture of evaluation.     

Collaboration for community-based wildlife management

Perhaps as remarkable as the general upsurge in public interest in wildlife over the last 30 years is the trend toward greater community-based wildlife management since the late 1980s. This paper discusses the challenges and opportunities at the local, community scale of collaboration for wildlife management. We explain how collaborative activity between the professional wildlife manager and community stakeholders can lead to improved identification of human-wildlife interactions and better understanding of wildlife-related impacts that are of primary management concern in the community. Community-based collaborative decision making can also effectively result in the specification of management actions that are acceptable to a community. Furthermore, agency-community collaboration can lead to co-management that goes beyond stakeholder input or involvement in decision making about management objectives and actions, and includes appropriate sharing of responsibility for implementation and evaluation. A growing role for the wildlife agency in such situations is facilitating the development of local capacity by filling information and process needs so that individuals and groups in a community can participate effectively in collaborative efforts appropriate to the necessary level of agency-community engagement. This opportunity for the wildlife profession promises to be rewarding and have lasting positive influence on communities for the benefit of wildlife management. However, most agencies cannot address every issue at a community level. Public wildlife managers need guidelines for judgment about when to engage in community-based wildlife management. They need to assess various risks associated with not engaging in a particular issue and to prioritize the potential situations where various degrees of community engagement may be desirable. This paper highlights these intriguing challenges and opportunities associated with community-based wildlife management. An erratum to this article is available at .     

Emerging services for community-based long-term care in urban China: a systematic analysis of Shanghai's community-based agencies

China's rapid economic reforms, coupled with the changes in age composition of the demographic structure, have greatly affected the traditional family support system. In response to these changes, efforts to develop new models of community-based long-term care (CBLTC) for elders in China have received growing attention. This paper provides a systematic analysis of the current status of emerging CBLTC systems in Shanghai, China. It covers several domains of the system: service delivery, workforce, financing, and quality of care management. Several main issues involved in the development of the emerging system are addressed, and relevant policy implications are presented in the paper.     

Youth engagement and service dosage in a mandated setting: A study of residential treatment centers

Treatment theory in residential treatment centers (RTCs) is conceived as a two-stage process of first engaging the client and then delivering services or interventions aimed at presenting problems. This treatment logic has been criticized for “creaming clients” or reserving services for clients easier to engage or more amenable to treatment but less in need. The present study examines whether higher early levels of engagement by youth in RTCs leads to more intervention and compares the relative effects of engagement and seriousness of presenting problems on the quantity of services provided by the mid-point in the adolescents' stay. Data come from interviews with a clinical sample of 71 male and 59 female adolescents in two RTCs in an eastern state. Findings indicate that higher level of engagement predicts more treatment interventions. Treatment staff delivered higher dosages of services to youth with more current behavioral problems, not those with problematic behaviors at intake. Youth with positive peer group backgrounds also received more services. Findings extend knowledge of how treatment staff provide treatment to clients and the role engagement plays in RTC service delivery.     

Evidence-based practice in community-based child welfare systems

The immaturity of the evidence base in some areas of child welfare practice demands that practitioners approach the development and refinement of practice in a systematic way that explicitly seeks to build on and learn from experience. The efforts of public child welfare agencies in Boston and Cleveland show that it is possible to draw on a broader base of knowledge and experience while responding to unique conditions and circumstances in each agency's community.     

Revisiting 'community' in community-based natural resource management

This article is concerned with the diverse nature and interestin the concept of ‘community’ and especially asit applies to community-based natural resource management projectsthat have grown in emphasis during the past twenty years. Despiteall the rhetoric about community and its reference in a ritualisticmanner in projects and policy documents, often contrary experiencesand mixed results in the field have started stirring negativereactions from various quarters. This article delves into thechallenges and dilemmas, which the focus on ‘community’,with its lack of specificity, has conjured up for practitioners,policy-makers and academicians alike.     

Sexual abuse histories of youth in child welfare residential treatment centers: analysis of the Odyssey Project population

This multi-site examination of sexual abuse histories of youth in residential treatment centers asked, for the sample as a whole and by youth's gender: (a) How many perpetrators did each youth have? (b) What was the gender of the perpetrator? (c) What proportion of youth was abused by family members? (d) What proportion of youth was abused in a child welfare setting? And, (e) what proportion of sexually abused youth were also victims of physical abuse and/or neglect? Results revealed that males were more likely to have one perpetrator, a female perpetrator, and to have been abused in a child welfare setting and less likely be abused by a family member. Implications for refining programs and practices are discussed.     

Evaluation considerations for community-based gender-informed health interventions

Evaluations of gender-based interventions have been consistently criticized for their lack of methodological rigor. This is largely due to the complex design of many of the interventions, coupled with difficulties in measuring the outcome and impact of these interventions. This article proposes a number of ways to improve these evaluations both at the community and individual level. We recommend use of organizational theory and narrative inquiry methods, such as the appreciative inquiry technique, to examine how communities design gender-based interventions. In addition, we suggest a variety of methods to measure the effects of these interventions on gender norms in the community for example, policy analysis, multilevel modeling, and social conversations. With respect to measuring outcomes at the individual level, we argue for more rigorous evaluation designs in order to improve internal and external validity claims. Additionally, we suggest that evaluations should incorporate different methodologies, for example autobiographical narratives, which allows one to give saliency to the subjective voices of participants. Finally, we emphasize that evaluation designs need to document the long term effects of intervention programs and define the expected outcomes with greater specificity.     

Analyzing attrition in a community-based literacy program

Attrition presents a challenge for research, especially when it affects groups differentially. The present study used the strategy proposed by Cook and Campbell (1979) to investigate attrition in a community-based literacy program. The relationship of attrition to person-centered and program-centered variables, and the interactions between person-centered and program-centered variables were examined in 287 Head Start families. Thus, data from this program were used to illustrate methods for examining attrition and determine its effects. This examination revealed differences among the intervention groups in the pattern of attrition. There were interactions between intervention program-centered characteristics and person-centered characteristics of the participants that could affect the validity of the study and limit the generalizability of the results. Suggestions for dealing with these problems and preventing attrition are discussed.