Abstract
Background It is important to attend to offenders' motivation for treatment and behaviour change, either as a treatment selection criterion or a pre‐treatment need. One measure of motivation that has been used with forensic populations is the Personal Concerns Inventory (PCI) and a PCI‐Offender Adaptation (PCI‐OA). As well as demonstrating promise in measuring offenders' motivation, the administration of the PCI and PCI‐OA shows potential as a motivation enhancer. However, a number of potentially useful changes to the PCI‐OA that may maximise its potential have been identified. These are described here.
Method The rationale and process of abridgement and further development of the PCI‐OA into the Personal Aspirations and Concerns Inventory for Offenders (PACI‐O) are described. Results of a pilot study with 22 prisoners are reported. The pilot study aimed to assess the acceptability of the PACI‐O with an offender population.
Results Findings demonstrated that the interview took less time, although similar concerns were still identified, consistent with the previous PCI‐OA.
Conclusion Consistency with previous evidence, together with positive feedback, suggests that the PACI‐O was acceptable with an offender population. Future research is required to assess the psychometric properties of the PACI‐O, and to evaluate its potential as an assessment of offender motivation. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.