Transformative Learning Theory and Its Application to the Delivery of Community Maintenance Programs for Men Who Have Sexually Offended

Abstract

Given public perceptions about those who have sexually offended, there tends to be a focus on offence-specific intervention programs in a bid to address re-offending risk. With a significant portion of the literature on sexual offending focused on the development and evaluation of interventions targeting this behavior, there is little that considers community maintenance programs (CMPs) or those programs in the community where those who are released from prison are attempting to reintegrate. Further, there is no known research considering the theoretical underpinnings of or a framework for delivering CMPs. This paper offers Transformative Learning Theory as a potential framework for the delivery of CMPs and offers that adult learning theory needs to be considered in the delivery of offending interventions.

Keywords

sexual offenders reintegration community maintenance programs learning

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bandura

(1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. Freeman.

Blasko

Jeglic

(2016). Sexual offenders’ perceptions of the client-therapist relationship: The role of risk. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 28, 271–290. https://doi.org/10.1177/1079063214529802

Casey

Day

Howells

(2005). The application of the transtheoretical model to offender populations: Some critical issues. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 10, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1348/135532505X36714

Christie

Carey

Robertson

Grainger

(2015). Putting transformative learning theory into practice. Australian Journal of Adult Learning, 55, 9–30.

Crank

(2014). The role of subjective and social factors in the desistance process: A within-individual examination [Doctoral dissertation]. Georgia State University. http://scholarworks.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=cj_diss

Cranton

King

(2003). Transformative learning as a professional development goal. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 2003, 31–38.

Cumming

McGrath

R. J.

(2005). Supervision of the sex offender. Safer Society.

Day

Casey

(2010). Maintenance programs for forensic clients. Psychology, Crime and Law 16, 1–10.

Dirkx

(1998). Transformative learning theory in the practice of adult education: An overview. PAACE Journal of Lifelong Learning, 7, 1–14.

10.

Evans

(2013). How and why people change: Foundations of psychological therapy. Oxford University Press.

11.

Flynn

(2010). Criminal behaviour in context: Space, place and desistance from crime. Willan Publishing.

12.

Fox

(2016). Civic commitment: Promoting desistance through community integration. Punishment and Society, 18, 68–94. https://doi.org/10.1177/1462474515623102

13.

George

W. H.

Marlatt

G. A.

(1989). Introduction. In Laws

D. R.

(Ed.), Relapse prevention with sex offenders (pp. 1–31). Guilford.

14.

Glaser

Strauss

(1967). The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies of qualitative research. Aldine.

15.

Healy

(2010). The dynamics of desistance: Charting pathways through change. Willan.

16.

Healy

(2014). Becoming a desister: Exploring the role of agency, coping and imagination in the construction of a new self. British Journal of Criminology, 54(5), 873–891. https://doi.org:10.1093/bjc/azu048

17.

Holdsworth

Bowen

Brown

Howat

(2014). Offender engagement in group programs and associations with offender characteristic and treatment factors: A review. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 19, 102–121.

18.

Jonson

Cullen

(2015). Prisoner reentry programs. Crime and Justice, 44, 517–575.

19.

Kegan

(2009). What “form” transforms? A constructive-developmental approach to transformative learning. In Illeris

(Ed.), Contemporary theories of learning: Learning theorists . . . in their own words (pp. 129–146). Routledge.

20.

Kottler

(2014). Change: What really leads to lasting personal transformation. Oxford University Press.

21.

Kurnia

(2021). A case for Mezirow’s transformative learning. Dilignentia: Journal of Theology and Christian Education, 3(1), 73–82.

22.

La Fond

J. Q

. (2005). Preventing sexual violence: How society should cope with sex offenders. American Psychological Association.

23.

Laub

Sampson

R. J.

(2003) Shared beginnings, divergent lives. Harvard.

24.

Laws

R. D.

Ward

(2011). Desistance from sex offending: Alternatives to throwing away the keys. Guildford Press.

25.

Layder

(1998). Sociological practice: Linking theory and social research. SAGE.

26.

Lazarus

R. S.

Folkman

(1984). Stress, appraisal and coping. Springer.

27.

Lovins

Lowenkamp

Latesa

(2009). Applying the risk principle to sex offenders: Can treatment make some sex offenders worse? The Prison Journal, 89(3), 344–357. https://doi.org/10.1177/0032885509339509

28.

Mahoney

(1990). Human change processes: The scientific foundations of psychotherapy. Basic Books.

29.

Malkki

(2010). Building on Mezirow’s theory of transformative learning: Theorizing the challenges to reflection. Journal of Transformative Education, 8, 42–62. https://doi.org/10.1177/1541344611403315

30.

Markus

Nurius

(1986). Possible selves. American Psychologist, 41(9), 954–969. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.41.9.954

31.

Marques

J. K.

Wiederanders

Day

D. M.

Nelson

van Ommeren

(2005). Effects of a relapse prevention program on sexual recidivism: Final results from California’s sex offender treatment and evaluation project (SOTEP). Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 17(1), 79–107. https://doi.org:10.1177/107906320501700108

32.

Marshall

W. L.

Ward

Mann

R. E.

Moulden

Fernandez

Y. M.

Serran

Marshall

L. E.

(2005). Working positively with sexual offenders: Maximizing the effectiveness of treatment. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 20(9), 1096–1114. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260505278514

33.

Martin

(2012). The transtheoretical model of behaviour change and possible selves in criminal offenders [Unpublished doctoral thesis]. University of Toronto.

34.

Maruna

(2001). Making good: How ex-convicts reform and rebuild their lives. American Psychological Association.

35.

Maruna

(2006). Who owns resettlement? Towards restorative re-integration. British Journal of Community Justice, 4(2), 23–33.

36.

Maruna

(2011). Reentry as a rite of passage. Punishment & Society, 13(1), 3–28. https://doi.org/10.1177/1462474510385641

37.

Maruna

LeBel

(2010). The desistance paradigm in correctional practice: From programmes to lives. In McNeill

Raynor

Trotter

(Eds.), Offender super- vision: New directions in theory, research and practice (pp. 65–89). Willan Publishing.

38.

McAlinden

(2006). Managing risk: From regulation to the reintegration of sexual offenders. Criminology and Criminal Justice, 6(2), 197–218. https://doi.org/10.1177/1748895806062981

39.

McAlinden

(2007). The shaming of sexual offenders: Risk, retribution, and reintegration. Hart Publishing.

40.

McNeill

(2006). A desistance paradigm for offender management. Criminology and Criminal Justice, 6, 39–62. https://doi.org/10.1177/1748895806060666

41.

Mezirow

(1991). Transformative dimensions of adult learning. Jossey-Bass.

42.

Mezirow

(1996). Contemporary paradigms of learning. Adult Education Quarterly, 46(3), 158–172. https://doi.org/10.1177/074171369604600303

43.

Mezirow

(1997). Transformative learning: Theory to practice. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 74, 5–12. https://doi.org/10.1002/ace.7401

44.

Mezirow

(2012). Learning to think like an adult: Core concepts of transformative theory. In Taylor

E. W.

Cranton

(Eds.), The handbook of transformative learning: Theory, research, and practice (pp. 73–95). John Wiley.

45.

Moulden

H. M.

Marshall

W. L.

(2009). A hopeful approach to motivating sexual offender for change. In Prescott

(Ed.), Building motivation for change in sexual offenders (pp. 139–159). The Safer Society Press.

46.

Nogueiras

Iborra

Kunnen

S. E.

(2019). Experiencing transformative learning in a counseling masters’ course: A process-oriented case study with a focus on the emotional experience. Journal of Transformative Education, 17(1), 71–95. https://doi.org/10.1177/1541344618774022

47.

Olver

Wong

Nicholaichuk

T.P.

(2008). Outcome evaluation of a high-intensity inpatient sex offender treatment program. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 24, 522–536.

48.

Paternoster

Bushway

(2009). Desistance and the feared self: Toward an identity theory of criminal desistance. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 99(4), 1103–1156. https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/jclc/vol99/iss4/5

49.

Presser

(2009). The narratives of offenders. Theoretical Criminology, 13(2), 177–200. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362480609102878

50.

Sampson

Laub

(1993). Crime in the making: pathways and turning points through life. Harvard University Press.

51.

Sandhu

Rose

(2012). How do therapists contribute to therapeutic change in sex offender treatment: An integration of the literature. Journal of Sexual Aggression: An International, Interdisciplinary Forum for Research, Theory and Practice, 18, 269–283. https://doi.org/10.1080/13552600.2011.566633

52.

Schmucker

Lösel

(2015). The effects of sexual offender treatment on recidivism: An international meta-analysis of sound quality evaluations. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 11(4), 597–630. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-015-9241-z

53.

Schnepfleitner

F. M.

Ferreira

M. P.

(2021). Transformative learning theory: Is it time to add a fourth core element? Journal of Educational Studies and Multidisciplinary Approaches, 1(1), 40–49. https://doi.org/10.51383/jesma.2021.9

54.

Seager

J. A.

Jellicoe

Dhaliwal

G. K.

(2004). Refusers, dropouts, and completers: Measuring sex offender treatment efficacy. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 48(5), 600−612. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X04263885

55.

Serin

Lloyd

(2009). Examining the process of offender change: The transition to crime desistance. Psychology, Crime & Law, 15, 347–364. https://doi.org/10.1080/10683160802261078

56.

Sheldon

Howells

Patel

(2010). An empirical evaluation of reasons for non- completion of treatment in a dangerous and severe personality disorder unit. Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, 20, 129–143. https://doi.org/10.1002/cbm.760

57.

Snyder

C. R.

Rand

K. L.

Sigmon

D. R.

(2002). Hope theory: A member of the positive psychology family. In Snyder

C. R.

Lopez

S. J.

(Eds.), Handbook of positive psychology (pp. 257–276). Oxford University Press.

58.

Taylor

(1998). The theory and practice of transformative learning: A critical review. Information Series no. 374. ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult, Career, and Vocational Education.

59.

Ullman

S. E.

Filipas

H. H.

(2001). Correlates of formal and informal support seeking in sexual assaults victims. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 16(10), 1028–1047. https://doi.org/10.1177/088626001016010004

60.

Walij

Simpson

Weatherhead

(2014). Experiences of engaging in psychotherapeutic interventions for sexual offending behaviours: A meta-synthesis. Journal of Sexual Aggression: An International, Interdisciplinary Forum for Research, Theory and Practice, 20, 310–332. https://doi.org/10.1080/13552600.2013.818723

61.

Ward

Stewart

C. A.

(2003). Criminogenic needs and human needs: A theoretical model. Psychology, Crime & Law, 9(2), 125–143. https://doi.org/10.1080/1068316031000116247

62.

Weaver

(2019). Understanding desistance: A critical review of theories of desistance. Psychology, Crime & Law, 25, 641–658. https://doi:10.1080/1068316X.2018.1560444

63.

West

(2007). Using the good way model to work positively with adults and youth with intellectual difficulties and sexually abusive behaviour. Journal of Sexual Aggression: An International, Interdisciplinary Forum for Research, Theory and Practice, 13(3), 253–266. https://doi.org/10.1080/13552600701664262

64.

Whisman

(1990). The efficacy of booster maintenance sessions in behavior therapy: Review and methodological critique. Clinical Psychology Review, 10(2), 155–170. https://doi.org/10.1016/0272-7358(90)90055-F

65.

Wilner

A. S.

Dubouloz

C. J.

(2011). Transformative radicalization: Applying learning theory to islamist radicalization. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 34(5), 418–438. https://doi.org:10.1080/1057610X.2011.561472

66.

Woldgabreal

Day

Ward

(2014). The community-based supervision of offenders from a positive psychology perspective. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 19, 32–41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2013.12.001

67.

Youssef

(2013). Community maintenance programs for sexual offenders. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 52(3), 217–232. https://doi.org/10.1080/10509674.2012.759170

68.

Youssef

Casey

Birgden

(2017). Potential underpinnings for community maintenance programs for sexual offenders. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 36, 108–119. https://doi.org:10.1016/j.avb.2017.05.002

69.

Youssef

(2023a). Self-determination theory as an underpinning theory for community maintenance programs for those who have sexually offended. Journal of Sexual Aggression, 29(1), 140–159. https://doi.org/10.1080/13552600.2022.2044525

70.

Youssef

Casey

Birgden

Guadagno

(2023b). The significance of an Australian Community Maintenance Program for men who have sexually offended: Participant perspectives. Journal of Forensic Psychology Research and Practice, 23(1), 56–91. https://doi.org/10.1080/24732850.2021.2013365.

71.

Youssef

Casey

Birgden

Guadagno

(2024). The significance of an Australian Community Maintenance Program for men who have sexually offended: Service provider perspectives. Journal of Forensic Psychology Research and Practice, 24(1), 23–47. https://doi.org/10.1080/24732850.2022.2055959

72.

Youssef

Casey

Day

(2016). Desistance: The other side of change and implications for maintenance programs. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 55(7), 443–465. https://doi.org:10.1080/10509674.2016.1216913