Ready or Not? Understanding the factors that impact on offender treatment readiness

Poor engagement in treatment amongst forensic populations is associated with negative consequences for clients, practitioners, the criminal justice system, and general population. Therefore, understanding the factors which impact offending behaviour treatment engagement is a crucial issue in offender rehabilitation. This thesis aims to develop a more in-depth understanding of readiness to engage with treatment amongst forensic populations. A qualitative approach is applied to explore the views and opinions of both the individuals participating within offending behaviour programmes, and the staff whom are directly involved in the selection and facilitation of these programmes within a UK prison. Consensus regarding reasons for treatment completion/non-completion was found, which appeared to support the factors outlined in the Multifactor Offender Readiness Model (MORM), a model of treatment readiness. Furthermore, additional factors to those outlined within the MORM were also identified. The data and discoveries detailed throughout this thesis are rooted within original research, and provide a contribution to the understanding of offender treatment readiness. Furthermore, this thesis is the first to investigate the applicability of the MORM within the prison setting, making the project unique and novel. Based on the results found, implications for practice are discussed and areas for future research highlighted in order to further existing research. Recommendations to enhance readiness to engage with treatment are provided for both prisons and programme users. In addition, owing to the acknowledged need for individualised assessment and case formulation prior to treatment being offered to reduce the rates of inappropriate referral to treatment and utilise resources more efficiently, a treatment readiness formulation protocol has been developed by the author in response to the research findings.