Relapse prevention with sex offenders: practice, theory and research

INTRODUCTION: Relapse prevention (RP) is now applied to sex offending. It has been questioned as to whether RP is worthwhile. This paper aims to evaluate this technique. THE ROCHESTER RP PROGRAMME: The purpose of the Rochester RP programme is to refine and strengthen skills gained in the prison department's sex offender treatment programme. The objective of the programme is to teach prisoners to recognize the chain of events leading up to their current offences and to practise strategies to interrupt this chain. THEORETICAL BASIS FOR RP: Stopping an undesired behaviour and maintaining abstinence are two different problems. RP aims to address the maintenance problems. At the centre of RP theory is a study of the conditions that can turn lapse into relapse. Yet RP has been criticized as a lot of jargon saying very little. Ward and Hudson criticize RP constructs and their interaction. Such debates have few implications for clinical work and most of the criticism flies in the face of clinical experience. RESEARCH BASIS FOR RP: Risk factors for sex offenders are being identified. Local evaluation of the Rochester programme suggests that prisoners do learn to identify risk factors and to develop coping strategies. As yet, however, there is no evidence as to whether RP works or not. DISCUSSION: A way to improve the efficacy of an RP programme may be to augment it with additional modules, e.g. behaviour therapy, drug treatment, continued work with the same prison staff and relaxation training. CONCLUSION: RP theory is sound in essence but suffers from an overlay of cumbersome vocabulary. Reliable research is emerging.