Senior therapeutic community members show greater consistency when affirming peers: evidence of social learning

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-13
Author(s):  
Keith L. Warren
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Social Learning ◽  
Prosocial Behavior ◽  
External Validity ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Therapeutic Community ◽  
Therapeutic Communities ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Content Type

Purpose Therapeutic communities (TCs) use social learning between peers in treating substance abuse. One mechanism for fostering social learning is peer affirmations for prosocial behavior. The purpose of this study is to use consistency of affirmations as a test of whether social learning does occur. Design/methodology/approach Using the results of a social network survey of 50 women in a corrections-based TC, the authors compared affirmations and nonprogrammatic compliments exchanged between residents as two directed social networks. The authors evaluated consistency of judgment using the hubs and authorities algorithm, and tested to see whether more senior residents are more likely to be hubs, thereby showing more consistent judgment. Findings More senior residents show greater consistency with peers in program affirmations but not in nonprogrammatic compliments. Hub status in the network of affirmations increases most rapidly in the first 200 days of residence, with slower increases thereafter. Research limitations/implications This study is limited to one survey of the women in one TC. The external validity of the findings is therefore unclear. The results suggest that social learning of TC principles and prosocial behavior does occur and that it is not simply a function of popularity among peers. This seems to happen most rapidly in the first 200 days, suggesting that programs much shorter than six months may limit this process. Originality/value This is the first use of the hubs and authorities algorithm with a social network drawn from a therapeutic community and the first attempt to verify social learning through a social network analysis.

scholarly journals Resident interactions when affirming and correcting peers in a therapeutic community for women

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith Leverett Warren ◽  
Nathan Doogan ◽  
Uwe Wernekinck ◽  
Fiona Claire Doherty
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Social Bonds ◽  
Therapeutic Communities ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Residential Settings ◽  
Admission Time ◽  
Peer Intervention ◽  
Increased Activity

Purpose While recent years have seen a number of studies of social networks in therapeutic communities (TCs) and other residential settings, these have primarily focused on male residents. This paper aims to conduct a longitudinal social network analysis of interpersonal interactions in a TC for women. Design/methodology/approach The data consists of a longitudinal directed social network of instances of feedback between 56 residents of a 16 bed TC for women over a period of 611 days. Mean age of the participants was 33.1 years, mean length of stay was 133.9 days and 91% of the participants were female. Feedback consisted of written affirmations for prosocial behavior and written corrections for contravening TC norms. Data was analyzed using a latent factor longitudinal social network model. Findings Residents react to peer intervention in complex ways. Residents reciprocated affirmations (B = 0.14, 95% confidence interval = 0.10, 0.18) and corrections (B = 0.20, 95% CI = 0.13, 0.25). Controlling for reciprocity, participants who received affirmations were more likely to affirm and correct peers (B = 0.10, 95% CI = 0.06, 0.15; B = 0.17, 95% CI = 0.10, 0.23), suggesting that the encouragement offered by affirmations leads to increased activity. Homophily by admission time occurred in both affirmations and corrections (B = 0.23, 95% CI = 0.10, 0.37; B = 0.51, 95% CI = 0.29, 0.74). Originality/value While affirmations and corrections serve as vehicles for behavioral reinforcement and social learning, they also allow residents to interact in ways that strengthen social bonds.

Some impressions on taking on the leadership of a therapeutic community

2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 219-228
Author(s):  
Martin K. Bhurruth
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Therapeutic Community ◽  
Therapeutic Communities ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Face ◽  
Selling Point ◽  
Participant Observer

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how psychoanalytic thinking can help therapeutic communities think about how the defence of psychic retreat can develop and take hold in the face of organisational transition and overwhelming loss. Design/methodology/approach – This paper draws upon the paradigm of psychoanalysis and is a case study orientated by a participant/observer stance. Findings – This paper posits that unless loss is worked through then perverse clinical cultures can develop including bullying and denial of reality. Originality/value – This paper illustrates the unique selling point of therapeutic communities incorporating justice into the treatment frame. It also identifies that unless loss is emotionally worked through then it can become the ground soil in which perverse cultures can develop.

A study on the political skill of Korean entrepreneurs contributing to social network guarantee

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-346
Author(s):  
Xi Zhan ◽  
Choon-kwang Kim
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Firm Performance ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Political Skill ◽  
Business Administration ◽  
The Political ◽  
Content Type ◽  
And Performance

Purpose – This paper aims to set social network, which is recently drawing the most attention in the business administration field, as a major dependent variable of political skill. It is because social network plays a very important role in improving the productivity and performance of firms, and, in actuality, many researches have proved that social network greatly contributes to firm performance. Design/methodology/approach – Researches into social network have not yet established that “through what” or “how” social network can be formed and affected. Findings – In this study, the authors attempt to connect social network with political skill, which is a cause variable. Originality/value – This approach will give us a better understanding on the formation of social networks and its relationship with political skill, and so eventually, such negative recognition about the politics can be viewed from a different sight of angle.

The potential of prison-based democratic therapeutic communities

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie Bennett ◽  
Richard Shuker
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Therapeutic Community ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Therapeutic Communities ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Sexually Violent ◽  
Self Harm ◽  
The Uk

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe the work of HMP Grendon, the only prison in the UK to operate entirely as a series of democratic therapeutic communities and to summarise the research of its effectiveness. Design/methodology/approach The paper is both descriptive, providing an overview of the work of a prison-based therapeutic community, and offers a literature review regarding evidence of effectiveness. Findings The work of HMP Grendon has a wide range of positive benefits including reduced levels of disruption in prison, reduced self-harm, improved well-being, an environment that is experienced as more humane and reduced levels of reoffending. Originality/value The work of HMP Grendon offers a well established and evidenced approach to managing men who have committed serious violent and sexually violent offences. It also promotes and embodies a progressive approach to managing prisons rooted in the welfare tradition.

Containment: from cruelty to kindness

2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Penelope Campling
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Therapeutic Community ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Therapeutic Communities ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Relational Dynamics ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Economic Philosophy

Purpose – This paper is about therapeutic containment. It makes links between what the author understands about containment in therapeutic communities and wider perspectives on containment in the context of organisational and social forces within which the author lives and works in modern society. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – The author explores relational dynamics, focusing particularly on the English NHS, using evidence from a cross-section of disciplines including ethology, anthropology and economic philosophy. Findings – The author suggests that the crisis in healthcare culture reflects a wider crisis of containment in the modern world; and that the theoretical legacy from, and lived experience in, therapeutic communities offers a rich perspective on the issues and points to ways forward. Social implications – The paper suggests ways that therapeutic community thinking can be applied more widely to topical problems such as the undermining of healthcare culture. The paper argues that an explicit focus on values is important in order to mitigate the forces that distract from co-operative and therapeutic relationships. To illustrate this, the author describes a simple model for nurturing the conditions for intelligent kindness. Originality/value – The paper draws important parallels between therapeutic community philosophy and practice, and the culture at large.

If they will have me, I think I will stay a while: compassion and containment illustrated by the Ingrebourne Therapeutic Community

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 37-46
Author(s):  
Tom Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Psychiatric Care ◽  
Therapeutic Community ◽  
Practical Implication ◽  
Therapeutic Communities ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Community Approach ◽  
Phd Thesis ◽  
Structured Approach

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the evolution of discerning compassion and how it was used in the Ingrebourne Therapeutic Community. Design/methodology/approach This paper is derived from a PhD thesis which was researched through interviews and archival research. The fundamental finding was that the therapeutic community approach was almost unique in providing a structured approach to implementing discerning compassion. Practical implication The therapeutic community approach for discerning compassion, in which the response to distress aims to promote flourishing. Social implications This paper offers a model that has implications on how care is delivered in other settings. Originality/value There is little literature that explores the role of compassion in therapeutic communities or in care environments of any form. The approach taken here places compassion in a historical and philosophical setting and contrasts it with the kindness expressed in traditional psychiatric care that promoted “tranquility”.

Leading from below? Decisions, responsibility and creativity as a group dynamic

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 47-55
Author(s):  
Robert Douglas Hinshelwood
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Therapeutic Community ◽  
Therapeutic Communities ◽  
Community Practice ◽  
Group Dynamic ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Past ◽  
Disadvantaged People

Purpose This paper aims to bring back into view some of the original ideas from which the Therapeutic Community (TC) developed today. If we forget the origins of therapeutic communities way back in the past, we cannot be in the best position to make decisions for the present. The underlying principles of the TC are a combination of social science ideas, psychotherapeutic practices and a political urgency to do something for disadvantaged people. There is a need to try to keep all branches of the past roots in play together. Design/methodology/approach Learning from the past. Findings The past has a relevance that must not be forgotten in present reflection. Originality/value This is a reflective exercise at the heart of the therapeutic community practice.

The complexity of the therapeutic experience within the therapeutic community based on an ex-patient’s account

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela Ivanova ◽  
Andrew John Howe ◽  
Patricia Burns ◽  
Merryn Jones
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Therapeutic Community ◽  
Support Network ◽  
Therapeutic Communities ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Therapeutic Experience ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
The Impact ◽  
E Mail

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the effectiveness of the therapeutic community and to look at the potential changes that some patients may experience following treatment at the therapeutic communities (TC). Design/methodology/approach A thematic analysis was conducted on an e-mail sent by an ex-patient of the TC. The text was reviewed multiple times and codes were generated. Based on the data found, three themes were identified. The e-mail was sent to the patient’s primary therapist, who was asked to provide an account of the e-mail. The therapist was sent six questions created by the authors of the paper; the responses were used to compare the two perspectives. Findings The main findings entailed the changes the patient went through after her treatment at the TC. The patient’s account described her inability to process the adversities she had been through at the time and therefore her inability to communicate them. However, the impact the service had on the patient, according to the e-mail was evident years later. The lack of a support network during treatment at the TC and evidence of one following treatment seemed to be the key factor in the patient’s improvement. Originality/value The authors confirm that the research presented in this paper is their original work. The authors hereby acknowledge that all material included in this piece of work, that has been published or written by another person has been referenced accordingly.

Milieu approaches and other adaptations of therapeutic community method: past and future

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 136-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Pearce ◽  
Rex Haigh
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Therapeutic Community ◽  
Homeless Shelters ◽  
Therapeutic Communities ◽  
Content Type ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Milieu Treatment

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the application of therapeutic community (TC) method in non-TC environments. Design/methodology/approach Milieu treatment is defined and differentiated from TC “proper”. Literature is reviewed covering attempts to use TC methods in inpatient wards, across hospitals, and more recently in the criminal justice system and more widely through the enabling environments initiative. Findings It is unclear whether TC milieu treatments proved helpful in acute ward environments in their heyday in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, in particular those involving people suffering from acute psychosis, and the changing landscape of psychiatric provision may make further investigation difficult. The reasons for this, and for the difficulties reaching a firm conclusion, are outlined. In contrast, TC milieu interventions appear to be demonstrating usefulness more recently in less mixed populations without the implementation of full TC “proper”. Research limitations/implications Much of the research is old and the methodology poor, which limits the conclusions that can be drawn. Practical implications Recent innovations pick up in a more accessible way principles of therapeutic communities that can inform and improve care in a variety of contexts. They are sufficiently well defined to lend themselves to research, which should now be a priority. Originality/value After a gap in developments in the field, recent innovations are reintroducing elements of TC functioning to new contexts including criminal justice settings, inpatient wards, homeless shelters and city communities.

The rise and fall and rise again of the therapeutic community

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 57-59
Author(s):  
Rowdy Yates
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Therapeutic Community ◽  
Learning Difficulties ◽  
Therapeutic Communities ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Low Profile ◽  
Personal Contribution

Purpose Therapeutic communities (and many other residential services) have been effectively marginalised in recent years with the increasing popularity of community-based outpatient responses to a variety of social issues including addiction, learning difficulties, mental health issues, etc. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach This has inevitably led to a low profile and has resulted in a lack of knowledge about therapeutic communities and how the methodology differs significantly from other approaches. Findings This situation is beginning to change in a number of fields and it is important that the therapeutic community movement adapts its methodology to the needs of their respective client groups and clarifies its approach (and the efficacy of that approach) to funders and service commissioners. Originality/value This paper is a personal contribution.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document