THE R&R PROGRAM REASONING & REHABILITATION Home|R&R/R&R2/Neurocriminology/Training|Seminars|Consultants| Associates/Publications| Contact The Reasoning & Rehabilitation (R&R) program is a group program designed for youths and adults who are evidencing antisocial behaviours or delinquent or criminal offending behaviour. It is an internationally accredited, evidence-based, multi-faceted, cognitive-behavioural program for teaching cognitive skills, social skills and values. R&R is a manualized program that provides 35, highly stuctured, two hour sessions for groups of 6-12 participants. The program can be conducted in institutions, including special hospitals and prisons; or in community settings including schools, special schools, group homes and probation. All that is required is a qualified Trainer working in a supportive context; an overhead projector; and a flip-chart . R&R is a product of an ongoing, long-term, multi-stage research project begun at the University of Waterloo in 1966 that involves a sequential series of empirical studies of the efficacy of programs designed to reduce antisocial behaviour. The R&R program was based on analysis of more than a hundred rigorously evaluated programs that have been found to be effective in the rehabilitation of juvenile delinquents and adult offenders. It is also based on forty years of research demonstrating the relationship between cognition and offending. R&R has been delivered over the past twenty years to more than seventy thousand offenders in twenty countries including Australia, Canada, Denmark, England, Estonia, Germany, Holland, Hong Kong, Japan, Jersey, Latvia, Lebanon, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Channel Islands, the Canary Islands, the United Arab Emirates, Wales and most of the states in the USA. The program materials are available in several languages including Arabic, Danish, Dutch, German, Estonian, Chinese and Swedish. Efficacy: R&R is the most widely disseminated and the most frequently evaluated cognitive behavioral offender rehabilitation program. Its efficacy has been demonstrated in numerous international, independent, controlled evaluations; in meta-analyses; and in cost-benefit analyses. A recent review concluded that "R&R is one of the most frequently evaluated programs. Its efficacy has been examined in a remarkable number of independent international evaluations not only in Canada where it was developed but also in
California, Colorado, Georgia, Texas, Germany, Scotland, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. It is clear that the cognitive model and the R&R program that it spawned has been well received in the criminal justice community for more than eighteen years - a remarkable achievement given the typical short shelf-life of many if not most offender treatment programs. This review would indicate that the enthusiasm has been reinforced by evidence of its efficacy in a variety of settings, with a variety of types of offenders in a variety of countries". Antonowicz (2005). Metanalyses: A recent meta-analysis of sixteen evaluations of R&R conducted over the past twenty years found a 14% decrease in re-offending by R&R participants in institutional settings compared with controls and a 21% decrease for participants in community settings (Tong & Farrington, 2006). The program was found to be effective in different countries, in community and institutional settings, in smaller and larger evaluation studies, older and newer studies and with a variety of types of offenders. A second metanalysis also found an overall reduction in recidivism of 14% (Tong & Farrington, 2007). Cost-benefits: The cost-effectiveness of R&R was analyzed by the Washington State Institute for Public Policy (Aos, Phipps, Barnoski & Lieb, 2001). It examined benefit-to-cost ratios, and rates of return on investment and concluded: the cost per participant is low, about $300 … effect sizes, coupled with the low cost of the program, produce attractive … economic bottom lines of about $2,400 in net taxpayer-only benefits per participant. Accreditation: R&R was one of the first programs to be approved by program Accreditation Panels in England and Wales; Scotland; and Canada. PROGRAM COMPONENTS R&R participants are taught the following: 1. Self-Control: to stop and think before they act; to consider all the consequences before making decisions. 2. Meta-Cognition: to realize that how they think determines what they think, how they feel and how they behave. 3. Critical Reasoning: how to think objectively and rationally without distorting the facts or externalizing blame. 4. Social Skills: skills which help achieve positive reinforcement rather than rejection in social situations. 5. Interpersonal Cognitive Problem-Solving Skills: analyzing interpersonal problems, understanding and considering other people's values, behavior and feelings; recognizing how their behavior affects other people.
6. Creative Thinking: considering alternative, prosocial rather than antisocial ways of responding to problems. 7. Social Perspective-taking: considering other people's views, feelings and thoughts. 8. Values Enhancement: developing beyond egocentric world view to a consideration of the needs of others. 9. Emotional Management: anger management techniques PROGRAM KIT The materials for conducting the R&R program are presented in a Trainer's Program Kit that includes the following: •
A PROGRAM HANDBOOK that articulates the program principles and provides complete and detailed step-by-step instructions (including a suggested script) for Trainers to deliver the complete program.
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SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS: reproducible materials required to conduct the program such as overhead transparency Masters.
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PARTICIPANTS' WORKBOOK – reproducible by Trainers
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FLASH CARDS: - reproducible wallet size cards for participants that list the steps that they are trained to follow in solving problems.
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CERTIFICATES OF ACHIEVEMENT – reproducible by Trainers
Information on training, certification, materials and training schedules can be obtained from the Cognitive Centre of Canada: www.cognitivecentre.ca Email:
[email protected]