Effectiveness of Anger Management Treatment in Reducing Anger-Related Behaviors in Female Juvenile Offenders

Anger Clinical Trial

Official title:

Anger Management Treatment for Female Juvenile Offenders

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT00720486
• Other study ID #: K23MH070400
• Secondary ID: K23MH070400DSIR
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• First received: July 18, 2008
• Last updated: March 26, 2014
• Start date: June 2008
• Est. completion date: February 2012

Study information

• Verified date: March 2014
• Source: Drexel University
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Health authority: United States: Federal Government
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

This study will evaluate the effectiveness of an anger management treatment program, Juvenile Justice Anger Management for Girls, in reducing anger-related behaviors displayed by girls in the juvenile justice system.

Description:

Girls represent a growing segment of the juvenile justice population in the United States, with a large number of them being victims of sexual, physical, and psychological abuse. These girls have special needs in terms of treatment and rehabilitation; however, little research exists on effective mental health treatments for female juvenile offenders in justice facilities. Despite the severity of anger-related behaviors displayed by girls in the juvenile justice system, no anger management treatments have been systematically developed to meet the unique treatment needs of delinquent girls. Treatment programs that provide gender-specific education, counseling, and emotional support are necessary for addressing the aggressive behaviors and psychological distress often displayed among this population. One such treatment program, the Juvenile Justice Anger Management (JJAM) for Girls, is an anger management program adapted from Lochman's Coping Power program, an empirically supported school-based anger management treatment for younger children. This study will evaluate the effectiveness of JJAM for Girls in reducing anger-related behaviors displayed by girls in the juvenile justice system.

Participation in this study will last about 8 months. All participants will first undergo initial assessments that will include a combination of structured interviews, self-report measures, rating scales, and reviews of program behavioral records and incident reports. Participants will then be assigned randomly to receive JJAM for Girls plus treatment as usual or treatment as usual alone. Participants receiving JJAM for Girls will attend two 1.5-hour sessions per week for 8 weeks. Sessions will aim to help youth develop skills in the following areas: identifying different types of physical and relational aggression, recognizing early warning signs of anger, avoiding anger-provoking situations, managing anger to prevent aggression, solving problems, communicating about anger-related events, and repairing relationships damaged by anger-related behaviors. Participants will also complete between-session practice activities that will include practicing skills involved in planning personal goals. Treatment as usual for all participants will include all standard activities in the female juvenile justice program. All participants will repeat the initial assessments at treatment completion and Month 6 of follow-up.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 75
• Est. completion date: February 2012
• Est. primary completion date: August 2011
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: Female
• Age group: 12 Years to 19 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Assigned to one of the designated juvenile justice facilities

• Has the ability to speak, read, and understand English sufficiently well to complete the procedures of the study

• Disposition to the juvenile justice program must last the 8 weeks of scheduled treatment plus 1 week before and after treatment

Exclusion Criteria:

• Fails to complete pretreatment assessments

• Current psychotic symptoms, mental retardation, or severe developmental disabilities

• Considered to be a ward of the state (defined as a youth without a parent, either biological or adoptive, as the legal custodian)

Study Design

Allocation: Randomized, Endpoint Classification: Efficacy Study, Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment, Masking: Single Blind (Subject), Primary Purpose: Treatment

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Anger

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Juvenile Justice Anger Management (JJAM) for Girls
JJAM will include two 1.5-hour group treatment sessions per week for 8 weeks. JJAM sessions will be manual based and will be designed to help youth develop skills in the following areas: identifying different types of physical and relational aggression, recognizing early warning signs of anger, avoiding anger-provoking situations, managing anger to prevent aggression, solving problems, communicating about anger-related events, and repairing relationships damaged by anger-related behaviors.
• Treatment as usual
Treatment as usual will include standard activities in the female juvenile justice program.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	Drexel University	Philadelphia	Pennsylvania

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
naomi goldstein	National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

References & Publications (3)

Goldstein NE, Kemp KA, Leff SS, Lochman JE. Guidelines for Adapting Manualized Interventions for New Target Populations: A Step-Wise Approach Using Anger Management as a Model. Clin Psychol (New York). 2012 Dec 1;19(4):385-401. — View Citation

Goldstein, N. E. S., Serico, J. M., Riggs Romaine, C. L., Zelechoski, A. D., Kalbeitzer, R., Kemp, K., & Lane, C. (2012). Development of the Juvenile Justice Anger Management (JJAM) Treatment for Girls. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 20 (2), 171-188.

Lane C, Goldstein NE, Heilbrun K, Cruise KR, Pennacchia D. Obstacles to research in residential juvenile justice facilities: recommendations for researchers. Behav Sci Law. 2012 Jan-Feb;30(1):49-68. doi: 10.1002/bsl.1991. Epub 2012 Jan 4. — View Citation

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Reduction in anger		Measured at pretreatment, post-treatment, and Month 6 follow-up	No