Does a Five-Day Drama Program Support Men in Prison to Develop Their Self-Confidence?
This paper evaluates an established five-day drama project, designed, and delivered by a professional company, aimed to support the development of self-confidence of seven men with a history of substance misuse in a category C prison. The project involved creation of a safe space, improvised role-pl...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2025
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| In: |
International journal of offender therapy and comparative criminology
Year: 2025, Volume: 69, Issue: 16, Pages: 2269-2282 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Keywords: |
| Summary: | This paper evaluates an established five-day drama project, designed, and delivered by a professional company, aimed to support the development of self-confidence of seven men with a history of substance misuse in a category C prison. The project involved creation of a safe space, improvised role-play, development of communication skills, and exploration of substance misuse, culminating in a performance. Audience members included prison staff, governors, healthcare staff, and prisoners. A mixed method approach was used to evaluate the project. Participant’s pre and post project self-confidence and feelings of positivity were collated by a questionnaire compromising of closed questions and measured using a Likert scale. On the last day of the project qualitative interviews were conducted using open ended questions. The findings conclude that the use of drama can support development of self-confidence in men in prison. The project encouraged skills such as, commitment, communication, collaboration, and motivation enhancing the likelihood of rehabilitation and promoting crime abstinence. Further research with a larger sample size will identify if the changes the men experienced were statistically significant and maintained. |
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| ISSN: | 1552-6933 |
| DOI: | 10.1177/0306624X231212805 |
