The Impact of Therapeutic Alliance and Perceived Respect on Recidivism in an Alternative to Incarceration Program
Abstract
The rise in the number of individuals involved in the legal system being diagnosed with mental illness has led to higher recidivism rates, overcrowding and higher costs. In order to address these issues and offer more appropriate treatment for these individuals, alternative to incarceration (ATI) programs were created. One of the most important goals of these programs is to reduce recidivism rates as this impacts both society at large and individuals involved in the legal system. Some prior research has shown that ATI programs are effective in reducing recidivism. In particular ATI program completion is an important negative predictor of recidivism. Yet, it is still unclear what specific factors of the client, case manager, and setting lead to lower rates of program non-completion and recidivism. Research within psychotherapy settings has shown that therapeutic alliance, the quality of the relationship between the patient and therapist, is an important predictor of treatment outcomes. One component of therapeutic alliance that has been hypothesized to be particularly important in forensic settings is perceived respect. However, this construct has rarely been studied in relation to tangible treatment outcomes. The current study examined the influence of therapeutic alliance and perceived respect on ATI program non-completion and recidivism amongst 71 ATI clients who had been diagnosed with a mental health disorder. Therapeutic alliance was rated by both the case managers and ATI clients, using the Working Alliance Inventory (WAI). Perceived respect was only rated by ATI clients with a newly developed measure for respect. It was hypothesized that both therapeutic alliance and perceived respect would be negatively associated with program non-completion and recidivism. Most of the findings indicated there was no significant relationship between therapeutic alliance and negative treatment outcomes, after controlling for relevant covariates. Yet, case manager-rated mutual agreement on tasks was associated with lower recidivism rates. Unexpectedly, self-reported therapeutic alliance was associated with higher program non-completion and mutual agreement on tasks was associated with higher recidivism rates. Perceived respect was not significantly associated with program non-completion or recidivism. Clinical and theoretical implications of the findings are discussed, as well as suggestions for future research.
Subject Area
Psychology|Criminology|Law|Medicine|Mental health
Recommended Citation
Quick-Parikh, Ellen, "The Impact of Therapeutic Alliance and Perceived Respect on Recidivism in an Alternative to Incarceration Program" (2024). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI31244113.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI31244113
