A treatment programme for sexually violent forensic psychiatric inpatients: Development and first results

In the current study, the development of a cognitive-behavioural treatment programme for sexual offenders is described. This programme was given in combination with “treatment-as-usual” and evaluated in a sample of 14 sexual offenders admitted to a Dutch TBS hospital. TBS stands for “TerBeschikkingStelling”, meaning “at the disposal of the government”. Potential changes were evaluated by using self-report questionnaires and two observation scales. At baseline, several risk assessment instruments were also administrated. Results showed that, in general, no significant changes were found after an intensive 16-week treatment programme for sexual offenders. Some of the results, however, were encouraging and worth mentioning. These results are elaborated upon in the discussion.