title: Specialist group therapy for psychological factors associated with firesetting: Evidence of a treatment effect from a non-randomized trial with male prisoners.
abstract: Despite huge societal costs associated with firesetting, no standardized therapy has been developed to address this hugely damaging behavior. This study reports the evaluation of the first standardized CBT group designed specifically to target deliberate firesetting in male prisoners (the Firesetting Intervention Programme for Prisoners; FIPP). Fifty-four male prisoners who had set a deliberate fire were referred for FIPP treatment by their prison establishment and psychologically assessed at baseline, immediately post treatment, and three-months post treatment. Prisoners who were treatment eligible yet resided at prison establishments not identified for FIPP treatment were recruited as Treatment as Usual controls and tested at equivalent time-points. Results showed that FIPP participants improved on one of three primary outcomes (i.e., problematic fire interest and associations with fire), and made some improvement on secondary outcomes (i.e., attitudes towards violence and antisocial attitudes) post treatment relative to controls. Most notable gains were made on the primary outcome of fire interest and associations with fire and individuals who gained in this area tended to self-report more serious firesetting behavior. FIPP participants maintained all key improvements at three-month follow up. These outcomes suggest that specialist CBT should be targeted at those holding the most serious firesetting history.
authors.affiliation: University of Kent, UK. Electronic address: T.A.Gannon@Kent.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Theresa A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Gannon
authors.affiliation: University of Kent, UK.
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Alleyne
authors.affiliation: University of Kent, UK.
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Butler
authors.affiliation: University of Kent, UK.
authors.forename: Harriet
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Danby
authors.affiliation: University of Kent, UK.
authors.forename: Aparna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kapoor
authors.affiliation: University of Kent, UK.
authors.forename: Tamsin
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lovell
authors.affiliation: University of Kent, UK.
authors.forename: Katarina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mozova
authors.affiliation: University of Kent, UK.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Spruin
authors.affiliation: University of Kent, UK.
authors.forename: Tracey
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tostevin
authors.affiliation: University of Kent, UK.
authors.forename: Nichola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tyler
authors.affiliation: University of Kent, UK.
authors.forename: Caoilte Ó
authors.initials: CÓ
authors.lastname: Ciardha
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005391:Firesetting Behavior / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011329:Prisoners / Q000523:psychology*; D011615:Psychotherapy, Group / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Cognitive behavioral therapy; Firesetting; Group treatment; Offender