Exploring the association between “negative interpersonal relating” and attrition within a democratic prison-based therapeutic community

Purpose This study aims to enhance wider understanding of attrition in forensic environments by testing the hypothesis that “negative interpersonal relating” tendencies can predict attrition within a democratic therapeutic community (DTC). The person’s relating to others questionnaire (PROQ; Version 3), a measure of negative relating, is routinely administered to men upon admission to the TC. Design/methodology/approach A sample of 300 men who had completed the PROQ3 upon admission between 2014 and 2018 and had either completed therapy ( N = 52), been de-selected during the assessment phase ( N = 46) or had been de-selected at the core therapy phase ( N = 202) were included in the study. Existing data sets for total PROQ3 score and the corresponding eight sub-scale scores were input and analysed on SPSS in two stages; using multinomial logistic regression and one-way Anova, respectively. Findings Analysis showed that significantly higher levels of negative relating were present in men that did not complete therapy, compared to those who completed, supporting the main hypothesis. Analysis of the PROQ3 sub-scale scores showed that men who were de-selected from therapy during the core therapy phase had significantly higher scores on the “closeness” scales (lower close, neutral close, upper close), compared to completers. Similarly, men who were de-selected during the assessment phase had significantly higher scores on the “lower distant” scale, compared to completers. Originality/value Results are discussed considering their implications for future policy and practice in the context of understanding and managing attrition within a TC.