Probation/Parole Officer Interactions with Women Offenders: Do Relationship Style and Communication Pattern Predict Outcomes?

这项研究将确定缓刑和假释官员用来促进女性罪犯预期结果的关系和沟通类型。它的重点是三分之二与毒品有关的女性罪犯。这一群体的研究不足，尽管他们的结果对他们照顾的孩子和其他个人有溢出效应。关于控制和帮助客户的人的不同关系风格的影响的理论（双重角色关系理论）和关于权威与对话沟通模式的影响的理论为预测积极结果的预测因素提供了一个框架，包括遵守规则，参与药物治疗，避免被捕。研究人员将从50名监管人员和400名他们的客户以及官方记录中收集数据。在两个月的监督中，他们将评估已知会导致再犯的女性需求类型。再过3个月，他们将评估工作人员与客户之间的关系和沟通的性质。再过三个月，他们将得到一个最终的需求指标。官方记录将显示女性是否违反监管规定或在监管开始后的18个月内再次被捕。一种称为多层次建模的统计技术将显示沟通和关系以及其他影响如何解释结果。该研究的另一个重要部分是收集关于令人难忘的信息的定性数据，包括监督官员的信息，这些信息影响了妇女，以及官员促进消极和积极结果的其他方式。确定警官与案主互动的积极品质和监督警官采取的行动将为培训课程的发展提供信息，以提高缓刑和假释官员的效率，并为评估此类培训效果的研究奠定基础。

This research will identify the types of relationships and communications that probation and parole officers use to promote desired outcomes for women offenders. It focuses on the two-thirds of women offenders who are drug-involved. This group is under-researched, even though their outcomes have spill-over effects on children and other individuals under their care. Theories about the effect of different relationship styles of people who both control and help clients (dual role relationship theory) and about the effects of authoritarian vs. a conversational communication pattern provide a framework for anticipating the predictors of positive outcomes including following rules, engaging in drug treatment, avoiding arrest. The researchers will gather data from 50 supervising officers and 400 of their clients as well as official records. Two months into supervision, they will assess the types of women's needs known to lead to recidivism. After three additional months, they will measure the nature of the relationship and communication between officers and clients. After another three months, they will obtain a final measure of needs. Official records will reveal whether women violate supervision rules or are rearrested within the 18 months after supervision begins. A statistical technique called multi-level modeling will show how communication and relationship, as well as other influences, explain outcomes. An additional and important part of the research is the collection of qualitative data on memorable messages, including those from the supervising officer, that affected the women and on other ways that officers promoted both negative and positive results. Identified positive qualities of officer-client interaction and actions taken by supervising officers will inform development of training curriculum to increase the effectiveness of probation and parole officers, and to set the stage for research that evaluates the effects of such training.