Preliminary evaluation of personality disorder awareness workshops for prison staff
Abstract
Purpose
Positive professional attitudes towards personality‐disordered clients have been linked with extensive clinical and strategic benefits. The largest influences upon such attitudes are associated with staff training, supervision and support. This preliminary evaluation seeks to consider the effect of an introductory personality disorder awareness workshop upon trainees' attitudes towards personality disordered prisoners.
Design/methodology/approach
The attitude towards personality disorder questionnaire (APDQ) was administered to prison staff (predominantly prison officers) immediately before the workshop and then re‐tested, on average, two months later.
Findings
The study sample (n=26) showed significant improvements on the “security versus vulnerability” APDQ sub‐scale. The remaining four sub‐scales and overall APDQ scores showed no significant change.
Practical implications
The findings indicate that personality disorder awareness training should initially engage with trainees' perceptions of their personal security and vulnerability when working with this client group, rather than aiming to increase liking, enjoyment and acceptance of such offenders.
Originality/value
This study marks a preliminary analysis of a new personality disorder awareness training programme.
Keywords
Citation
Maltman, L. and Hamilton, L. (2011), "Preliminary evaluation of personality disorder awareness workshops for prison staff", The British Journal of Forensic Practice, Vol. 13 No. 4, pp. 244-256. https://doi.org/10.1108/14636641111190006
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2011, Emerald Group Publishing Limited