A Knowledge Translation Informed Integrated Approach to the Treatment of Sex Offenders

Liam Marshall

It takes on average more than 17 years for information from research to make its way into clinical work (Morris, 2011). There are many practitioner and institutional barriers to implementing the results of research, such as a lack of knowledge of how to interpret research for clinical purposes (including a fear of statistics), lack of time to read, low levels of clinical supervision, and a belief that research is not as applicable to clinical practice as clinical intuition (e.g., Aarons, 2004; Barwick et al., 2008; Chagnon, et al., 2010; Cummings, et al., 2007; Ehrhart, Aarons, Farahnak, 2014; Estabrooks, 2005; Gagliardi, 2011; Graham, et al., 2003; Varcoe & Hilton, 1995). This talk will describe and give suggestions on how to overcome the barriers to incorporating research into clinical practice using Knowledge Translation and presenting a model for improving the integration of research into clinical practice. Finally, an example of a Knowledge Translation approach will be presented including the results of this strategy. 

Liam Marshall has a PhD in Developmental Psychology from Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada. He has been providing treatment and conducting research on offenders and mentally ill offenders for more than two decades. Liam has more than 100 peer-reviewed publications, including four books, is a board member and reviewer for many international journals, and has made numerous international conference presentations on offender and mental health issues. He has delivered trainings for therapists who work with sexual and violent offenders in 23 countries worldwide. He is currently a research clinician at Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care and Director of Rockwood Psychotherapy & Consulting.