Sexual Offenders’ Perceptions of the Client–Therapist Relationship

Abstract

The therapeutic alliance has been shown to be integral to treatment outcomes even in forensic settings. There is still a relative dearth of research examining factors related to the formation of the therapeutic alliance in sex offender treatment specifically. Using a sample of 202 incarcerated male sexual offenders participating in sex offender treatment, this study examined whether perceptions of the client–therapist relationship from the perspective of male sexual offenders varied by risk for sexual and general recidivism. Overall, we found a significant negative relationship between risk for sexual recidivism and bond formation. However, when therapist subscale scores on the Working Alliance Inventory were considered by therapist gender, higher risk sexual offenders perceived poorer bonds with their female therapists, relative to their male therapists. Findings are discussed as they pertain to therapeutic relationships and responsivity issues in sex offender treatment.