by rbartels | Feb 11, 2015 | Forensic
FCRG member and PhD student – Julie Pattinson – will present some findings from her doctoral research at the 2015 Postgraduate Student Conference: Public Engagement. The talk will be entitled “Predictive risk factors for problem gambling behaviour in UK older adults”.
Julie’s research focuses on trying to understand the largely ignored issue of gambling-related harm within UK adults over the age of 65 years. As her presentation title signals, the research Julie will present aimed to identify the major psychological and physical factors associated problem-gambling in a sample of older adults (65+) from across the UK (n = 695).
Five factors were found to most accurately predict problem-gambling behaviour in UK older adults, with the strongest being the level of gambling participation and playing slot machines. Other predictive factors included anxiety, playing bingo, loneliness and number of different gambling activities one plays regularly.
Come down to hear Julie and other postgrad students discuss their research on Thurs 26th March at the Riseholme Park Conference Centre (Riseholme Park Campus, Lincoln).
by rbartels | Feb 6, 2015 | Forensic
Yesterday (5th Feb), PhD Student and FCRG member – Craig Harper – was elected on to the committee of the BPSâs Division of Forensic Psychology after applying for the position through the Psychology Postgraduate Affairs Group (PsyPAG).
PsyPAG is an organisation that seeks to represent the views of postgraduate students in psychology within the rest of the national field, and offers financial and academic support to these students.
Craig first became interested in PsyPAG after attending and presenting at their annual conference in Lancaster in 2013, when FCRG colleague Dr. Ross Bartels still held the position of Forensic Psychology Representative for PsyPAG. This position is now taken up by Craig (along with his place on the DFP committee). Having presented at two conferences, Craig applied for this position in January 2015, and his election was confirmed on yesterday on 5th February.
Craig welcomes all forensic psychology postgraduates, from Lincoln to anywhere else in the country, to get in touch with any issues that they would like be raised at national level. You can contact him via email (charper@lincoln.ac.uk), or find him on Twitter.
by rbartels | Feb 3, 2015 | Forensic
Elspeth Dustagheer – a graduate of the MSc Forensic Psychology programme at the University of Surrey – has been shortlisted for the BPS Dissertation Award. Her project, an exploration of pathways to the downloading of Child Sexual Exploitation Material, has been conducted as part of the onlinePROTECT research programme and was supervised by Dr Hannah Merdian (University of Lincoln), Professor Derek Perkins (University of Surrey and Royal Holloway, NHS) and Dr Emily Glorney (University of Surrey and Royal Holloway).
The full article can be read in the DFP’s January issue of the Forensic Update
The onlinePROTECT team is very proud of Elspeth’s achievements!
by rbartels | Jan 31, 2015 | Forensic
onlinePROTECT is an international research collaboration led by FCRG member Dr Hannah Merdian (University of Lincoln) and Prof Derek Perkins (Surrey University & West London Mental Health NHS Trust). The core aim of onlinePROTECT is to address the safety of children and young people in online and offline environments.
onlinePROTECT has now launched a brand new website that details their aim, research, previous and upcoming events, as well as up-to-date news items. To visit the onlinePROTECT website, click here.
In related news, onlinePROTECT will be running a new one-day workshop entitled “Internet-based Sex Offending: Case Formulation and Intervention Planning” on the 5th March (2015) in Edinburgh. For more details on what the event will entail, fees, and location, please click here (see the links below also).
Course Leaflet (Page 1)
Course Leaflet (Page 2)
You can also keep up-to-date with the work of onlinePROTECT by following them on Twitter
by rbartels | Jan 27, 2015 | Forensic
During the prize giving event at this year’s January graduation ceremony, a graduate in MSc Forensic psychology (Ashley Mason) received the School of Psychology Prize for MSc Forensic Psychology (presented to her by Prof. Todd Hogue).
This is a great achievement for Ashley as the prize is an accolade to the hard work she put into her degree, as well as the high-standard of academic work that she produced.
Ashley is certain to have a great future and we in the FCRG (and at University of Lincoln) wish her, and all our graduates, the best in their coming careers.
by rbartels | Jan 27, 2015 | Forensic
In Novemeber, FCRG member Dr Lynsey Gozna attended and presented at the 7th International and 12th National Congress of Clinical Psychology in Seville, Spain (14-16th November).
As part of her doctoral training (at the University of Nottingham), Lynsey presented a poster detailing a clinical case study of a schema therapy intervention with a female patient residing in a secure forensic mental health setting with diagnoses of emotionally unstable personality disorder, paranoid schizophrenia, a history of varied substance abuse, and criminal convictions including revenge-motivated arson.
The presentation received much interest by the attendees, and Lynsey is now currently writing-up the case for publication.
Please email Lynsey Gozna to a request a PDF copy of the poster.
by rbartels | Dec 15, 2014 | Forensic
In a unique piece of research funded by the University of Lincolnâs Research Investment Fund, people from all corners of the globe answered a questionnaire about their attitudes towards dogs and their experiences of dog ownership. This research is part of a project by members of the FCRG (Rachel Orritt and Prof. Todd Hogue) that looks to understand the dog-human relationship, with a particular focus on human-directed aggressive behaviour.
To investigate this complex social issue, the researchers needed to gather a lot of data within a short period of time. With the help of an IPad Prize incentive, just short of 1500 responses were collected. The lucky winner of the IPad Air was Sam Watts, a student at the University of Lincoln (pictured receiving his prize in the cover photo for this post).
The same team will be running a follow up survey in the near future, so watch this space to be in with a chance of becoming our next prize winner!
by rbartels | Dec 9, 2014 | Forensic
On November 20th, 2014, onlinePROTECT hosted a full-day workshop entitled “Internet-based Sex Offending: Case Formulation and Intervention Planning” at Hamilton House, London. onlinePROTECT is an international research collaboration led by Dr Hannah Merdian (University of Lincoln; FCRG) and Prof Derek Perkins (Surrey University & West London Mental Health NHS Trust). onlinePROTECT address the safety of children and young people in online and offline environments, by targeting the offenders who engage in online sex offences against minors, specifically those who view and produce Child Sexual Exploitation Material (CSEM).
The workshop was a great success and PhD student and FCRG member – Danielle Kettleborough – has provided an overview of the day, which can be viewed here
by rbartels | Dec 9, 2014 | Forensic
On the 5th November this year, the FCRG organised a trip for 3rd year undergraduate students (who study ‘Psychology with Forensic Psychology’) to visit HMP Whatton. This was followed by a trip with the MSc Forensic Psychology students on the 17th November.
On both days, the Whatton staff gave up their time to talk to the students about what they do at Whatton in terms of treatment for sex offenders. In addition, two inmates kindly provided time to talk to the students, giving first-hand insights into the benefits of the programmes they had completed. One of the 3rd year students (Ryan Hesp) has written a piece about the trip, which nicely sums up the day. See below
Her Majestyâs Prison (HMP) Whatton Undergraduate Visit by Ryan Hesp
HMP Whatton is a Category C prison which holds adults male sex offenders, and one of the largest treatment-focused prison establishments for sex offenders in Europe. Whatton provides a series of learning and skills-based activities, including education, vocational training, industrial workshops and manufacturing, and gardening. There are also a large range of treatment programmes targeting offending and offence-related behaviours, including SOTP (Sex Offender Treatment Programme), the Enhanced Thinking Skills training, and CALM (Controlling Anger and Learning to Manage it). The prison also runs a Listener Scheme, providing a peer-support system for those who wish to talk to someone and/or are considered to be at risk of suicide or self-harm.
The aims of our undergraduate trip was to: 1) get a feel for a prison setting, as a potential future employment setting. 2) Learn about some of the treatment programmes provided within a prison environment, and the challenges of delivering it. We can honestly say what an informative visit it was!
As we arrived, we realised the level of security; much to our amusement, our school representative was not allowed to enter the premises as he forgot his ID. Once all security procedures were in place, we began our journey into the prison. We were escorted to the Visitorsâ Centre where we met a number of staff responsible for the treatment and rehabilitation of the prisoners. After introductions and some background information, we were able to ask questions, on prison and prison life.
We were then familiarized with some of the many treatment programmes and rehabilitation schemes within HMP Whatton. We were given informative visitor booklets for our notes and able to ask questions relating to the programme content. The staff provided a wealth of information, from both personal experience and about current literature; it was a great experience for us psychology students to see the real-life application of psychological knowledge in an applied setting.
Three prisoners that are part of peer mentor scheme then came and spoke to us, giving us another angle on the treatment programmes, from a prisonerâs point of view. Their personal accounts reinforced the applicability and usefulness of the treatment programmes for individual change and growth. Again, we were able to ask many, sometimes difficult questions, about life in prison. Once we got all our questions and comments out of the way, we were itching to begin the prison tour; we were lucky to see the group treatment rooms, the prisoners-run textile factory and one of the inmatesâ wings, as well as sneak peeks of inmate cells, dining rooms, gardens, football pitches, common rooms and the Psychology and Rehabilitation offices.
All of us were inspired by the enthusiastic staff. Their willingness to talk to us, share their personal experiences, and their outstanding commitment to the prison system communicated a real sense of passion for their jobs! Questions again helped us (as soon to be graduates) to explore the diverse range of jobs, routes and employability options within HMP Whatton and alike systems.
To all the Staff at HMP Whatton: Thank You for your help, guidance and insightful tour! We would also like to thank the College, School and Hannah for organizing the trip, as well as Lynsey and Amanda for accompanying us. One day we may be back, as psych assistants, treatment facilitators, or in other similar jobsâŚ
by craigharper | Nov 27, 2014 | Forensic
The Daily Mirror newspaper this week published a piece in response to the Channel 4 documentary “The Paedophile Next Door”, which asked whether UK society could do more to prevent reoffending by those convicted of committing sexual crimes against children.
As part of her research into the area, The Mirror’s technology editor, Olivia Solon, contacted FCRG’s Prof. Todd Hogue for comment on a range of issues, such as social rehabilitation, stigma, and media coverage of sexual crime. Â On the issue of stigma and reintegration, Prof. Hogue stated that paedophiles “are alienated, poor and unhappy. It makes it harder to have relationships, harder to re-engage with society and have appropriate and normal relationships”, and thus the risk of reoffending is increased through a lack of social bonds.
Referring to research conducted with PhD student, Craig Harper, in relation to media coverage of sexual crime generally, Prof. Hogue is also quoted as saying that “in seeking to protect the identity of victims who know their perpetrator, papers go gung-ho every time they have a stranger perpetrator. This gives the public the false idea that the only people they have to worry about is strangers”, and hides the fact that the vast majority (up to 90% in cases of child sexual abuse) involve a perpetrator who is known to the victim.
You can view the Mirror article by clicking here, and watch the Channel 4 documentary on-demand here.
