Life Goal Assessment for Offenders: A Psychometric Tool

Featured Article | International Journal of Forensic Mental Health  | 2022, Vol. 22, No. 2, p. 105-115

Clinical Services Addressing Violent Extremism: The Quebec Model

Jason Davies - Psychology Department, Swansea University, UK

Aisling O’Meara - Offender Personality Disorder Pathway, Cardiff, UK

Laura Jayne Broome - Psychology Department,Swansea University, UK

Models of offender motivation to change exist; however, there is a lack of theory-driven psychometric tools that measure motivational constructs to support offenders in positive life goal pursuits. This research extends the Personal Concerns Inventory (Offender Adaptation), presenting a Goals and Plans tool that supports users to: identify and prioritize goals in life domains of importance to them; detail how a goal can be attained; and consider obstacles to attainment. Literature informed the benchmark for the tool, which was evaluated through implementation in Prisons (n=62) and Approved Premises (n=105) across Wales, UK. Results indicate that goals in the life domains of Home & Future Living, Relationships, Physical & Mental Health, and Learning & Working were prioritized. Goal attainment/restrictions were influenced by perceived control over a goal. Goals that relied upon external factors (i.e., services) reflected a more maladaptive motivational structure, whereas those that relied upon internal (self-focused) barriers to participation reflected an adaptive structure. This research offers practitioners a tool to assist users in planning for the future and monitoring progress by capturing motivations and assessing factors that might impact the likelihood of a goal being pursued. 

Offender motivation; assessment; goals; rehabilitation 

This article addresses the critical issue of effectively measuring and supporting offenders in pursuing positive life goals. Despite existing models of offender motivation to change, there's a notable absence of theory-driven psychometric tools specifically tailored to assess motivational constructs in this population. The study introduces a Goals and Plans tool, an extension of the Personal Concerns Inventory (Offender Adaptation), to aid users in identifying, prioritizing, and strategizing goals across various life domains. By providing practitioners with a comprehensive tool to assess motivations and anticipate obstacles, this study offers a promising avenue for enhancing offender rehabilitation programs.

Previous research highlights the crucial role of motivation in offender rehabilitation programs and the need for effective tools to assess and support offenders in pursuing positive life goals. While existing tools like the Personal Concerns Inventory (Offender Adaptation) (PCI-OA) have shown promise, they lack the ability to prioritize and address life domains most significant to individuals or consider environmental factors influencing motivation. This article aims to bridge these gaps by developing and evaluating a user-friendly Goals and Plans tool, building upon the PCI-OA framework.

The study employed an opportunistic sampling method to recruit male residents from both public and private sector prisons, as well as approved premises (AP) sites in Wales, UK. Participants were male, over 18 years old, and convicted of various offenses, with demographic and offense data anonymized to adhere to ethical requirements. The Goals and Plans Tool development involved two stages: Stage 1 focused on theoretical framework expansion and piloting, while Stage 2 involved tool modification and implementation. The revised tool was a card sort activity where respondents ranked life domains in order of importance and identified specific goals for the top-ranked domains. This version was evaluated among a larger sample of prison and AP residents to assess its utility. 

Findings revealed no significant differences in the prioritization of life domains between participants in prison and approved premises (AP), with both groups emphasizing goals related to relationships and housing. Individuals were more motivated to succeed in goals of higher importance and those promoting pleasurable responses when they felt high levels of control and likelihood of achievement. Goals ranked as low priority, such as Prosocial Behavior, also scored highly on importance, commitment, and happiness. This suggests potential hierarchies among domains or nested relationships, where success in lower-ranked domains may motivate behavior in higher-ranked ones.

Continuous Monitoring and Reevaluation: Although usable as a one-time assessment, the tool's effectiveness is maximized when used periodically. This approach allows for ongoing monitoring of progress, reassessment of goal priorities, and evaluation of environmental changes for offenders integrating back into the community. 

Understanding Priorities: Practitioners should recognize the consistent prioritization of social needs, like relationships and housing, among both prison and approved premises populations. This understanding underscores the importance of addressing social ties in interventions to reduce recidivism.

Motivation and Goal Achievement: Recognizing that individuals are more motivated to pursue goals they perceive as meaningful and achievable is crucial. By fostering a sense of control and likelihood of success, practitioners can enhance motivation and increase the likelihood of goal achievement among offenders.

Hierarchy of Domains: Identifying potential hierarchies among goal domains highlights the complexity of goal-setting processes. Practitioners should consider how success in lower-ranked domains may influence motivation and behavior in higher-ranked ones, tailoring interventions accordingly.

“The strength of the current research is that it offers practitioners a way to capture motivations and assess factors that might impact the likelihood of a goal being pursued. The Goals and Plans Tool may also be useful as  an  outcome/monitoring  tool  through repeated use over time. The current work did not aim to explore changes over time, however the potential to review and revisit goals and motivation across time and in different settings/points within the criminal justice system could: a) help identify goal achieve-ment; b) identify barriers to goals; and c) better explain the relationships between goals and offending.However, longitudinal research is needed to under-stand how goals are impacted by other variables such as the prison or AP environment (Liebling et al.,2019). Research is also needed to assess how success-ful individuals might be at following plans to achieve goals and overcoming the potential barriers they have identified and developed a mitigating strategy for,such as the need to access additional support to facili-tate goal attainment in the long-term” (p. 113).