Proposing Forgiveness Therapy Within Prison

University of Wisconsin (UW)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Forgiveness

Treatments: Other: Forgiveness Therapy; Other: Carey Guides

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04373954

2018-0132

A173000 (Other Identifier)

EDUC/EDUC PSYCH (Other Identifier)

Details and patient eligibility

About

Previous studies found that a large number of prisoners experienced unjust treatment from others, which can lead to deep inner pain or anger, prior to criminal perpetration. Such unresolved anger can deepen and linger, be turning to resentment (excessive anger) or rage (very intense, potentially violent anger), compromising one's psychological health and behavior and even contributing to their choice of crime. However, Forgiveness Therapy, as an empirically-verified treatment, can help reduce and even eliminate the excessive anger. Its positive effects have been scientifically supported by numerous studies within diverse populations. Therefore, in the prison context, similarly, the investigator hypothesizes that Forgiveness Therapy will lower rates of anger, depression, and anxiety and raise the levels of forgiveness, empathy, hope, and self-esteem for the experimental (Forgiveness Therapy) group as compared to the alternative treatment control group. This is based upon numerous studies that demonstrate the efficacy of Forgiveness Therapy with comparisons to other treatment methods. Further, the study team expects behavioral change by the men within the correctional institution, as measured by officers' observations as well as the number of misconducts in conduct reports on each participant and the time spent in restrictive housing.

This study is the second part of a two-tiered research project to propose a novel approach--Forgiveness Therapy--to corrections and aims to demonstrate the effectiveness of Forgiveness Therapy in reducing resentment and other negative psychological symptoms such as excessive anger, anxiety, and depression for the prison inmates.

A random sample of 24 participants, who have not participated in forgiveness workshops or forgiveness therapy, were taken from the Study 1(the investigator's previous research from the maximum-security prison of Columbia Correctional Institution "Examining Prison Inmates' Attitudes and Internal Emotional States"). These participants became 12 matched pairs (matched by the type of abuse, the severity of the abuse, and age at which the injustice occurred) with each member of the matched pair randomly assigned to the experimental group or control group. Each inmate participated voluntarily in this study.

Since this study is a continuation of Study 1, the investigator named this study as Study 2.

Enrollment: 24 patients

Sex: Male

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Participants who enrolled in Study 1 and need to satisfy the criteria of:

  1. most serious stories of abuse against them; 2. the least forgiving; and 3. the most psychologically compromised. 4. Also, given the duration of psychological treatments, participants' release date will also be considered.

Exclusion criteria

• Inmates who have received Forgiveness Therapy before.
• Inmates would be released or transferred to other institutions during the 12-month treatment.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Crossover Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

---

24 participants in 2 patient groups

Forgiveness Therapy

Experimental group

Description:

6-month Forgiveness Therapy; Participants meet once per week, in group setting.

Treatment:

Other: Forgiveness Therapy

Carey Guides

Active Comparator group

Description:

6-month Carey Guides; Participants meet once per week, in group setting.

Treatment:

Other: Carey Guides

Other: Forgiveness Therapy