An evaluation of the Enhanced Thinking Skills (ETS) programme with mentally disordered offenders in a high security hospital

Purpose. Further to evidence of the successful application of cognitive skills programmes with offenders in HM prison service, the Enhanced Thinking Skills (ETS) training course is now delivered in various secure forensic hospitals, and its usefulness with an offender patient population merits examination. Our aim was to evaluate the impact of ETS using measures designed to capture change in key areas targeted by the course, and a more global measure of mental well‐being. Methods. Offender patients (N = 83) referred for ETS between 2001 and 2006 via a wider groupwork service within a high security hospital were administered questionnaires before and after the training course, which was minimally adjusted to meet the needs of the patient population. Attendance rates, including ‘drop‐out’ (completion of 10 or less sessions) were recorded. Demographics by subgroup (completers vs. non‐completers), and the clinical significance of any changes endorsed by participants post‐group were examined. Results. ETS completers were significantly more likely than non‐completers to endorse changes in thinking style (e.g. a reduction in post‐course scores). Significant differences were observed at both the group and individual level in the direction of less externalization of blame, a slight increase in tolerance of frustration, an increase in social conformity, and improvement in critical reasoning skills. Furthermore there was a reduction in the endorsement of aggressive solutions to social problems. Conclusions. These findings demonstrate a significant short‐term impact of the course for mentally disordered offenders with regards change in aspects of their thinking style and enhancement of their social problem solving skills. This profile lends some support to the provision of ETS within secure hospital settings.     

A comparative analysis of voter turnout in regional elections

Elections to regional assemblies have become increasingly important as the power and responsibilities of regional governments have increased. Yet, few studies have attempted to explain the considerable variation in turnout in regional elections from one region to another. This article conducts a cross-sectional examination of voter participation in regional elections across nine multi-level OECD states between 2003 and 2006. It contends that standard models of voter turnout in national elections are insufficient to explain variation in turnout in regional elections and argues for the use of independent variables tailored to capture variation across regional communities and regional political institutions. Our findings suggest that variations in the strength of political autonomy and the strength of attachment to the region among the electorate have a strong and positive impact on the level of turnout in regional elections.     

Refugees Who Have Experienced Extreme Cruelty: A Qualitative Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing after Being Granted Leave to Remain in the UK

Abstract

This study explores how vulnerable refugees’ experiences in the first year after being granted leave to remain in the UK impact on mental health and wellbeing. Nine semi-structured interviews were conducted with refugee survivors of extreme cruelty. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis with a narrative influence. Reported challenges included requirements to organize housing, finances and welfare benefits rapidly. Most respondents reported low mood, worry, exacerbated PTSD symptoms, physical ailments and isolation, but valued stable housing, meaningful activities, emotional support and service provider sensitivity in managing this transition. Policy and service recommendations are made, to assist integration and improve wellbeing.     

Personality Profiles of Special Force Police Officers

The present study was aimed at investigating whether different personality profiles could be found among Italian police Special Force (SF) officers. Our hypothesis was that different personality profiles would be found, and that they would differ with respect to psychological and organizational functioning. This conjecture was tested on anonymously collected Big Five scores of all members of a 'Reparto Mobile' unit (n?=?289) by means of a Two-Step cluster analysis. Two distinct personality profiles were found: two-thirds of participants showed a personality profile that was quite similar to the general population, with the exception of a higher self-reported emotional stability and self-deceptive enhancement, while the remaining third showed higher levels of any personality domain than both the other cluster and the general population. These officers also endorsed lower scores in measures of depression, anxiety, professional exhaustion, loss of empathy, and higher scores in a measure of organizational resilience, suggesting that they may represent the most suitable personnel for the delicate tasks their unit usually has to accomplish. In addition, self-deceptive enhancement emerged as a likely personality trait of police SF officers.     

The age of reason: An examination of psychosocial factors involved in delinquent behaviour

Purpose. Delinquent behaviour among children and adolescents is escalating at a considerable rate. This has led to calls to lower the Age of Criminal Responsibility (ACR); however there is limited research on which to base such a decision. The present study addressed this omission by (1) assessing whether or not children can accurately distinguish right from wrong in relation to ‘real‐life’ transgressions and (2) investigating psychosocial factors that may constrain children from acting in accordance with their knowledge of what is right and wrong. Methods. A total of 452 students were recruited from five schools in Sydney, Australia. Forty percent of participants were younger children recruited from Year 5 classes in primary school (mean age of 10.49), and 60% were older children from Year 8 classes in high school (mean age of 14.29). All students completed a questionnaire measuring their understanding of right and wrong, their level of moral disengagement and delinquent behaviour, and their perceived self‐efficacy relating to academic achievement, empathy, and resistance to peer pressure. Results. The majority of children in both age groups demonstrated knowing the difference between right and wrong in relation to ‘real‐life’ transgressions. Further analyses using structural equation modelling (analysis of moment structures, AMOS) revealed that children who engaged in delinquent behaviour were unable to exercise this knowledge appropriately to regulate their behaviour. They were less able to resist peer pressure for transgressive conduct, had low levels of empathic and academic self‐efficacies, and disengaged from moral standards. Conclusions. Implications for policy change and future research directions are proposed.     

3D documentation of footwear impressions and tyre tracks in snow with high resolution optical surface scanning

The three-dimensional documentation of footwear and tyre impressions in snow offers an opportunity to capture additional fine detail for the identification as present photographs. For this approach, up to now, different casting methods have been used. Casting of footwear impressions in snow has always been a difficult assignment. This work demonstrates that for the three-dimensional documentation of impressions in snow the non-destructive method of 3D optical surface scanning is suitable. The new method delivers more detailed results of higher accuracy than the conventional casting techniques. The results of this easy to use and mobile 3D optical surface scanner were very satisfactory in different meteorological and snow conditions. The method is also suitable for impressions in soil, sand or other materials. In addition to the side by side comparison, the automatic comparison of the 3D models and the computation of deviations and accuracy of the data simplify the examination and delivers objective and secure results. The results can be visualized efficiently. Data exchange between investigating authorities at a national or an international level can be achieved easily with electronic data carriers.     

Little Swans with Luxette and Loved Boy Pudding: Changing Fashions in Cookery Books

Cookery books are far from simple things: alongside the recipes we may find narrative, memoir, science, history, politics, travelogue and anthropology. The cookery book also reveals in a profoundly naked form the anxieties and paranoias of its precise historical moment. So the glamorous cookery books of the years between the wars try to persuade the newly servantless middle-class woman that the cooking she must now do herself is a creative and fashionable activity. And the postwar British, sick of the limited stodge of their still-rationed diet, clutched Elizabeth David to their collective bosom, unable to taste her pungent dishes, but in thrall to the sun-strewn fantasy of the good life her books offered. From Mrs Beeton, offering the mid-Victorian mistress of the house the instructions and routines she needed to hide the mechanisms of the domestic machine, to the potent contemporary fantasy of the Mediterranean peasant and his fabulously healthy lifestyle, Humble interrogates the cookery books of the last 150 years, asking what they can tell us about how changing attitudes to class, gender and domesticity intersect with the culture of food.