Guided moral discussions and encounter as approaches to treatment of delinquints: an intervention

In this pilot study a guided moral discussion group was compared to an encounter group to further determine the effectiveness of these modalities in the treatment of institutionalized delinquents. There were eleven male subjects, age 13 to 18, in each group. The groups met three times a week for ninety minutes each session. The intervention ran for three months at the end of which time a questionnaire was administered to the subjects to determine their reaction to the groups. A one-tailed t-test was used for data analysis. The results indicated that although both groups showed a positive response, the moral discussion group responded significantly more positively (t = 2,72, P, .01).