Coming on strong: Is Responsive Aggression Regulation Therapy (Re-ART) a promising intervention?

The aim of this dissertation was to assess whether Responsive Aggression Regulation Therapy (Re-ART) is a promising intervention. First, a meta-analysis was conducted to assess whether certain essential Re-ART components - which are also applied in other interventions - resulted in positive changes in outcome variables, such as a reduction of recidivism. Then, the reliability and validity of the ’Brief Irrational Thoughts Inventory’ (BITI) was investigated. Third, we examined the effectiveness of Re-ART intramural using a quasi-experimental design with a waiting list comparison group receiving Treatment-As-Usual (TAU). Finally, we examined whether the level of program integrity of Re-ART was sufficient in an outpatient forensic setting and a residential juvenile justice institution, and investigated the extent to which the treatment targets of Re-ART were reached.
The results of this dissertation indicate that Re-ART is a promising intervention. First of all, the meta-analysis in this dissertation demonstrated that treatments which make use of individually oriented treatment with CBT-elements for adolescents and young adults with severe aggression problems yield moderate to large effect sizes. Second, positive changes in many program objectives were observed after Re-ART had been applied with sufficient levels of program integrity (PI). This suggested that the largely individual treatments employing CBT-elements and the application of the RNR model (Andrews and Bonta, 2010) appear to have a positive influence on the effectiveness of Re-ART.