Training Correctional Volunteers for Group Discussions

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Abstract
Sixty-three volunteers were assigned to one of four different institutional programs with fifty incarcerated correctional offenders (trained discussion, untrained discussion, a self-control program and recreation activity) or a delayed-treatment control group. Volunteers were rated on interpersonal skills and discussions were monitored. An attitude-personality test battery was administered in a pre-post design. Participant evaluations were found to be a complex function of the amount and kind of volunteer training, the type of program, the personality of the volunteer, and the personality of the client. Trained discussion group volunteers self-reported more tension, and less flexibility than untrained volunteers although the residents did not describe them as such. Volunteers in the self-control program reported more tension and less flexibility, approachability, and influence relative to the recreation volunteers. Residents rated the self-control volunteers higher in tension but also more approachable and more concrete. Residents expressed a greater appreciation of the noncriminally oriented volunteers. Training had a positive effect on the differential reinforcement of residents' pro- and antisocial statements. All program group volunteers increased on identification with criminal others as a function of their exposure to offenders. Recreation group volunteers also increased on empathy. Implications for volunteer and correctional counselor training are reviewed.