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Cognitive Skills Component in Substance Abuse Treatment in Correctional Settings: A Brief Review

NCJ Number
153287
Journal
Journal of Drug Issues Volume: 23 Issue: 1 Dated: (Winter 1993) Pages: 31-42
Author(s)
S D Husband; J J Platt
Date Published
1993
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This article provides a brief overview of cognitive skills interventions and highlights two correctional treatment programs that incorporated a cognitive component and provided for a controlled outcome evaluation.
Abstract
Individuals at high risk for substance abuse have been described as lacking in problemsolving and social skills. Interpersonal, cognitive problemsolving emphasizes the importance of problemsolving skills that can be applied to a variety of problem situations. These include skills such as awareness of interpersonal problems, defining problems, causal thinking, consequential or alternative thinking, means-ends thinking, and perspective-taking. In reviews of the literature on correctional rehabilitation, Wexler, Lipton, and Johnson (1988) and Gendreau and Ross (1979, 1987) described commonalities among prison treatment programs that were successful. One of those elements was training that involved problemsolving. Two examples of successful, prison-based drug treatment programs that have incorporated cognitive interventions are New York State's Stay'n Out and Canada's Reasoning and Rehabilitation. Stay'n Out is a prison-based therapeutic community that models cognitive and social problemsolving skills in a variety of activities. The Reasoning and Rehabilitation Program targets the thinking and social skills deficits often found in substance-abusing and offender populations. 58 references