Assignment:
As a forensic treatment practitioner, you work to prepare individuals for their return to a more normal life with a reduced likelihood of future problems. Your understanding of treatment outcomes affects how you formulate your treatment plan. It also affects discussing treatment alternatives with interested parties, designing treatment programs for various types of offenders, and communication with criminal justice officials. You are ethically obligated to explain to interested parties the benefits of treatment as well as the limitations of what you are able to offer.
For this very reason, the forensic treatment provider must have a well-established understanding of treatment outcome models. Central to that understanding is a familiarity with current literature in the forensic treatment field and an ability to discern how it relates to your professional practice. That being said, treatment outcome has more to do with services in the forensic setting than just professional journal articles. Treatment outcome has serious implications for the individual, society, and the professional planning of services.
To prepare for this Discussion:
1. Review the Treatment Outcome Models document, and select one of the three treatment outcome models that is of particular interest to you for use with this Discussion.
2. Conduct an academic search in the Walden Library, and select at least one scholarly article from a peer-reviewed journal that uses the treatment outcome model (recidivism, relapse, or harm-reduction) you selected.
3. Reflect on the results of the study in terms of the outcome model you selected.
4. Consider how the results of the study might be different if one of the other two treatment outcome models had been used. Think about how the outcomes might change.
With these thoughts in mind:
Post a brief summary of the research article you selected, including an identification of the treatment outcome model used in the study. Then explain how the study might have been affected and how the outcomes might have changed if one of the other treatment outcome models had been used.
Be sure to support your postings and responses with specific references to the resources.