methodology: case formulation

Question 1

state 6 characteristics / purposes of a case formulation

Answer 1

• make sense of problems
• identify dynamic risk factors
• create a detailed analysis of behaviour
• design effective treatment
• safety plan
• regularly review treatment

Question 2

what is phase 1?

Answer 2

offender analysis

Question 3

what is the purpose of offender analysis?

Answer 3

• provides a risk assessment
• helps to understand the likelihood of recidivism
• analysis of the crime and assessment of the offender
• should analyse the offenders behaviour, not just list what they did
• how and an offence took place, and why to find out motivation
• typically takes the form of psychometric testing or an interview
• e.g financial gain, revenge, etc

Question 4

what is offence paralleling behaviour?

Answer 4

• any behaviour linked to the crime which happens before or after it
• the way a person was functioning at the time of a crime/internal motivation
• eg mental illness or life events such as losing a job
• or external motivation such as being in a gang

Question 5

what are criminogenic factors?

Answer 5

the cause or likely cause of behaviours, e.g. education, employment, drug misuse, attitude and past relationships

Question 6

summarise the steps of phase 1: offender analysis

Answer 6

• understand cause of offence/overview of past
• when (physical and life timeline)
• who (victims/relationship)
• what (anticedent, behaviour, consequence)
• why (internal and external motivation)
• uses a flow diagram
• criminogenic factors, offence paralleling behaviour, scenario planning

Question 7

why is a flow diagram used for offence analysis?

Answer 7

simplifies complexity

Question 8

describe the flow diagram in an offence analysis

Answer 8

• early experience
• dysfunctional assumption due to this
• critical incident/trigger
• negative automatic thought
• symptoms

Question 9

what is phase 2?

Answer 9

understanding the function of offending

Question 10

what is the purpose of understanding the offender?

Answer 10

psychological underpinning of behaviour and linking to a theory/theorising the cause of offending

Question 11

summarise the steps of phase 2: understanding the offender

Answer 11

• plan best/worst case scenarios
• understand potential victims and levels of harm
• use psychological theories to explain the cause of the criminal behaviour
• will help to provide a prognosis

Question 12

what is phase 3?

Answer 12

applying treatment

Question 13

describe the steps of phase 3: applying treatment

Answer 13

• establish treatment for offender that is most effective for them
• reflect on how they started, presence of mental illness and risk of reoffence
• later reassessed to see if this is working
• use of HCPC guidelines eg remain unbiased, maintain quality of practise and maintain confidentiality
• report to the judge about treat ability, risk assessment and the likelihood of reoffending.

Question 14

what is a weakness of using case formulation?
- methodology criticism 1

Answer 14

• qualitative data
• gathered at a clinical interview done by multiple people so open to subjectivity

Question 15

what is a weakness of using case formulation?
- methodology criticism 2

Answer 15

• retrospective data
• memory is easily distorted for offence analysis
• could be unreliable

Question 16

what is a weakness of using case formulation?
- reliability

Answer 16

• no standardised procedure
• unique offenders
• cannot be replicated
• only measures recidivism so not fully accurate

Question 17

what is a weakness of using case formulation?
- validity

Answer 17

• treatment may not be working
• social desirability suggests it is as offenders want to be released

Question 18

what is a strength of using case formulation?
- application compliment

Answer 18

• reduces recidivism
• improves offenders life
• ensures most effective treatment chosen for complex crimes

Question 19

what is a strength of using case formulation?
- validity 1

Answer 19

• objective data
• free from bias
• e.g. psychometric testing

Question 20

what is a strength of using case formulation?
- validity 2

Answer 20

• holistic
• considers gender and culture
• criminogenic factors
• so more likely to be successful than treatments based on one theory only

Question 21

what is a strength of using case formulation?
- supporting study 1

Answer 21

McKnight (1984)
- effective in treatment prediction
- and also what treatments would not work

Question 22

what is a strength of using case formulation?
- supporting study 2

Answer 22

Whitehead
- conducted a case study approach and found that this was successful
- Mr C developed new sense of identity and prevented relapse
- 14 months later he had not reoffended

Question 23

Overall evaluations

Answer 23

• triangulation- interviews, psychometric testing, retrospective data, observations in offender analysis all increase the reliability of results
• takes into account all factors of criminals life- e.g. criminogenic factors- so makes it a more holistic approach, more likely to be successful than therapies based on one factor only
• retrospective data low in reliability
• risk of over-simplifying data which is complex into diagrams such as flowcharts, so reduces detail, reductionist explanation.
• qualitative data- so very subjective