Does shame-proneness impact resilience?
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Does shame-proneness compromise mentally disorder offender’s level of resilience?
IRAS ID
248560
Contact name
Emily Dickenson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Portmsouth
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 3 days
Research summary
Within forensic psychiatric settings, there is an emphasis for patients to engage in psychological assessment and therapy aimed to address offending behaviours and related criminogenic risk factors. Being in the therapy room, however, can be a challenging notion for patients and may evoke responses that act as a barrier to the therapeutic process. One area that is increasingly receiving recognition as impacting therapeutic alliance and engagement in psychological treatment is shame. Shame is an affective construct referred to as a moral and self-conscious emotion thought to evoke self-reflection, self-evaluation and guide one’s behaviour. Shame is experienced by individuals every day, and in healthy amounts can be considered to assist in moral development. However, some individuals have a dispositional tendency to experience greater levels of anticipatory and consequential shame, referred to as shame-proneness which has been associated with offending behaviours and psychological maladjustment. Despite this, the existing evidence is predominately based on non-offender samples, demonstrating the need for further exploration of shame-proneness in forensic samples. Furthermore, it is thought that shame compromises one’s resilience to cope with stressful events, which suggests a patient’s experience of shame may compromise the patient’s resilience to engage in therapy effectively. The present study aims to address this gap in the literature by exploring whether shame is associated with patient’s resilience threshold. Data will be collected from a sample of mentally disordered adult male patients residing on low and medium secure wards at a forensic psychiatric hospital. Participants will complete two questionnaires and demographic information will be be collected from patient files. By recognising the prevalence of shame-proneness in this sample and its relationship with resilience, this will aid formulation and the identification for suitable interventions to address shame.
REC name
North East - York Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/NE/0042
Date of REC Opinion
25 Jan 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion