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Applications of
the FoSOD The Facets of Sexual Offender Denial Scale was designed primarily for use in sexual offender treatment programs to assist with treatment planning, the assessment of treatment progress, and clinical decision making that ranges from strategy selections to readiness for discharge. It is designed to assess the level and type of denial evidenced by sexual offenders throughout treatment, and to assist in evaluating the level of responsibility that offenders are taking for their sexually abusive behavior. Because the FoSOD assesses an offender's attempts to avoid responsibility, it can provide clinicians with a more clearly defined measure of important treatment goals that can be used in initial and routine assessments, and can provide a basis for individualizing the focus of treatment. In addition, the FoSOD is a psychometrically sound measure that can facilitate research concerning the treatment of child molesters. It can be used to examine the role of denial in treatment, to assess the utility of denial as a dynamic within treatment variable for assessing treatment effects, and to assist in program evaluations. The FoSOD may also provide a mechanism for more accurately assessing the link between denial and recidivism. Hanson & Bussiere (1998) concluded from their meta-analysis that denial was not systematically related to recidivism. However, Lund (2000) has pointed out that the measures used in the meta-analysis to represent denial were cursory, unsystematic, and typically based on indirect subjective ratings of clinical records. With the introduction of the FoSOD, we now have the opportunity to do a more thorough and comprehensive assessment of denial so that future studies will have the information needed to adequately document what role denial may play in recidivism. Next: FoSOD Scales and Subscales |
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