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Specialist group therapy for psychological factors associated with firesetting: Evidence of a treatment effect from a non-randomized trial with male prisoners

Gannon, Theresa A., Alleyne, Emma, Butler, Helen, Danby, Harriet, Kapoor, Aparna, Lovell, Tamsin, Mozova, Katarina, Spruin, Elizabeth, Tostevin, Tracey, Tyler, Nichola, and others. (2015) Specialist group therapy for psychological factors associated with firesetting: Evidence of a treatment effect from a non-randomized trial with male prisoners. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 73 . pp. 42-51. ISSN 0005-7967. (doi:10.1016/j.brat.2015.07.007) (KAR id:51903)

Abstract

Despite huge societal costs associated with firesetting, no standardized therapy has been developed to address this hugely damaging behavior. This study reports the evaluation of the first standardized CBT group designed specifically to target deliberate firesetting in male prisoners (the Firesetting Intervention Programme for Prisoners; FIPP). Fifty-four male prisoners who had set a deliberate fire were referred for FIPP treatment by their prison establishment and psychologically assessed at baseline, immediately post treatment, and three-months post treatment. Prisoners who were treatment eligible yet resided at prison establishments not identified for FIPP treatment were recruited as Treatment as Usual controls and tested at equivalent time-points. Results showed that FIPP participants improved on one of three primary outcomes (i.e., problematic fire interest and associations with fire), and made some improvement on secondary outcomes (i.e., attitudes towards violence and antisocial attitudes) post treatment relative to controls. Most notable gains were made on the primary outcome of fire interest and associations with fire and individuals who gained in this area tended to self-report more serious firesetting behavior. FIPP participants maintained all key improvements at three-month follow up. These outcomes suggest that specialist CBT should be targeted at those holding the most serious firesetting history.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1016/j.brat.2015.07.007
Uncontrolled keywords: Firesetting, Offender, Cognitive-behavioral, therapy, Group treatment
Subjects: H Social Sciences
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Psychology
Funders: [UNSPECIFIED] Economic and Social Research Council
Depositing User: Emma Alleyne
Date Deposited: 15 Nov 2015 18:06 UTC
Last Modified: 29 Sep 2021 11:07 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/51903 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Gannon, Theresa A..

Creator's ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5810-4158
CReDIT Contributor Roles:

Alleyne, Emma.

Creator's ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4335-7176
CReDIT Contributor Roles:

Tyler, Nichola.

Creator's ORCID:
CReDIT Contributor Roles:

Ó Ciardha, Caoilte.

Creator's ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5383-8403
CReDIT Contributor Roles:
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