Intervention with Aggressores

Code:

PJD05

Acronym:

IA

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
CNAEF	Psychology

Instance: 2025/2026 - 2S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Psychology
Course/CS Responsible:	Master Degree in Psychology

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
MPSI	27	Plano de Estudos 2021	1	-	6	54	162

Teaching language

Suitable for English-speaking students
Obs.: Classes will be taught in Portuguese, but many documents will be provided in English and the assignments can be presented in English. Throughout the classes, the teacher will clarify doubts and answer questions in English whenever necessary

Objectives

The main goals of this course are to promote a deep understanding of the main causes, dynamics, processes and consequences of aggression and violence (physical, psychological, sexual, etc.), as well as the main explanatory theories and intervention models based on them. It includes the main models for assessing and managing the risk of violence and/or recidivism; the main models, programmes and strategies for psychological, psychosocial and psycho-educational intervention with aggressors/offenders; the need for network intervention in this area, as well as reinforcing understanding of the interrelationships between intervention with victims and intervention with aggressors and the relationships between prevention, intervention, different models of justice, punishment and reintegration.

We intend also to promote the mastery of some concepts and theories in related areas (e.g. Law, Criminology, Forensic Medicine).

Another main objective is also to analyze and discuss with students the importance of preventing gender-based violence and how this is a central issue when working with perpetrators / aggressors. Similarly, social responsibility and its association with intervention in this area will also be discussed.

These classes are therefore committed to promoting the Sustainable Development Goals 5 - “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”, 16 - “Promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies”, and 3 - “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages”.

Learning outcomes and competences

At the end of the UC students should:

1. Identify and master the main explanatory theories and intervention models that allow us to understand the phenomena of aggression and violence; understand their causes, processes and dynamics; in short, to have the theoretical knowledge necessary to support the development of appropriate assessment and intervention skills with offenders / aggressors (young people and adults), psycho-educational, psychosocial intervention and psychological intervention / psychotherapy.


2. Possess basic skills to:

a) assess and intervene with perpetrators in various professional contexts (e.g. prison services, juvenile justice system, psychological counselling services, police institutions, the judicial system, community projects), as well as skills for integration into multidisciplinary teams.

b) assess and intervene in different situations of violence/crime, whether in emergency intervention / risk / danger assessment and response, crisis intervention or ongoing psychological intervention / psychoeducational programmes / therapy (individual or group); to promote equality; to promote the prevention of violence in general, and gender-based violence and violence against children in particular, as well as the prevention of sexual violence, of harassment and cyberharassment, bullying and cyberbullying, among other forms of violence/abuse.

c) write psychological reports and to intervene in legal proceedings involving offenders / aggressors (including testify in courts).

d) liaise, whenever necessary, with the professionals who are accompanying their victims. 

Working method

Presencial

Program

- Violence, aggression, and victimization. Main psychological, psychosocial and criminological theories explaining violence and aggression.

- Types of violence, crime and victimization; contexts and forms of victimization.

- Gender violence. Intimate partner violence, domestic violence, marital violence, family violence.

- Child maltreatment (e.g., negligence, physical and psychological maltreatment, sexual abuse).

- Sexual crimes, particularly rape and child sexual abuse. Child sexual abuse vs paedophilia.

- Harassment and cyberharassment, bullying and cyberbullying.

- Assessment and psychological (or psychoeducational / psychosocial) intervention models and strategies with perpetrators of violence and crime (youth and adults) – national and international perspectives.

- Specificities of the intervention with perpetrators of domestic/intimate relationship violence and with perpetrators of sexual violence.

- Specificities of the intervention with young people who have committed offences / violent acts, namely serious physical offences and sexual offences

- Different models of judicial and psycho-judicial intervention; Punishment, psychotherapy and social rehabilitation.

Mandatory literature

Laws, R. & O'Donohue, W. (Eds, 2018). ; Treatment of Sex Offenders: Strengths and Weaknesses in Assessment and Intervention, Springer., 2018
Sani, A. I. & Caridade, S. (Coord.), ; Práticas de Intervenção na Violência e no Crime. , Lisboa: PACTOR, 2016
Marshall, W. L., Marshall, L. E., G. A. Serran, & Fernandez, Y. M. ; Treating sexual offenders: An integrated approach., New York, NY: Taylor & Francis., 2006
Barbaree, H. & Marshall, W. ; The juvenile sex offender. , New York: Guildford Press (second edition)., 2008
Travaini G, Flutti E, Moretti G, Carabellese F, Catanesi R, Mandarelli G, Buongiorno L, Carabellese F, Ferracuti S, Parmigiani G. ; Efficacy of treatment approaches for stalking offenders: a systematic review. , Int Rev Psychiatry, 36(7), 812-825. doi: 10.1080/09540261.2024.2368796, 2024
L. A. Craig, L. Dixon, & T. A. Gannon (Eds.) ; What works in offender rehabilitation: An evidence-based approach to assessment and treatment. , New York: Wiley., 2013
Lee, M.Y; Sebold, J. & Uken, A.; Solution-focused treatment of domestic violence offenders, New York: Oxford University Press, 2003
Aldarondo, E. & Mederos, F. (Eds.) (2002).; Programs for Men Who Batter. Intervention and prevention strategies in a diverse society. , Kingston: Civic Research Institute., 2002
Lehmann, P., & Simmons, C. (Eds, 2009). ; Strengths-Based Batterer Intervention: New Paradigm in Ending Family Violence., New York: Springer., 2009

Complementary Bibliography

Manita, C. & Matias, M.; Programas para Agressores: Modificar Comportamentos Abusivos no Âmbito das Relações de Intimidade e Prevenir a Reincidência. , In Sani, A. I. & Caridade, S. (Coord.), Práticas de Intervenção na Violência e no Crime. Lisboa: PACTOR, 2016
Hasselt Vincent B. Van ed. lit.; Handbook of family violence. ISBN: ISBN 0-306-42648-X
Bloomquist Michael L.; Helping children with aggression and conduct problems. ISBN: 1-57230-748-X
Geffner, R.A & Rosenbaum, A. (Eds.); Domestic Violence Offenders. Current Interventions, Research, and Implications for Policies and Standards, New York: The Haworth Press., 2001
Paymar, M.; Violent No More. Helping Men End Domestic Violence, Alameda: Hunter House., 2000
Budrionis Rita; The^sexual abuse victim and sexual offender treatment planner. ISBN: 0-471-21979-7
Briggs David; Managing men who sexuality abuse. ISBN: 1-85302-807-X
Berry, D.B.; The Domestic Violence Sourcebook., Los Angeles: Lowell House (3ª Edição), 2000

Teaching methods and learning activities

- Theoretical classes.

- Theoretical-practical classes with active participation of students, individually and in groups.

- Classes with guests, who will share with the students their experiences of intervention with aggressors / perpetrators / offenders.

- Practical case-studies.

- Analysis of videos (and other materials) with contents related to violence / aggression and to the intervention with perpetrators.
- Whenever possible, observation of consultations conducted at GEAV, one of the Counselling / Therapy Units of the FPCEUP.

- Tutorial supervision of students works.

- Development of a practical assignment by the students, in small groups, which involves the description of a perpetrator / offender’s case and the characterization and application of an evaluation and intervention proposal for that case. This type of work requires analysis of theoretical contents and, above all, critical reflection on knowledge and practices, in addition to an exercise of practical application of the knowledge and skills acquired.

keywords

Social sciences > Psychological sciences > Psychology

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

designation	Weight (%)
Trabalho escrito	30,00
Trabalho prático ou de projeto	40,00
Trabalho de campo	30,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	34,00
Frequência das aulas	46,00
Trabalho de campo	40,00
Trabalho escrito	32,00
Apresentação/discussão de um trabalho científico	10,00
Total:	162,00

Eligibility for exams

- Students’ attendance in each class will be monitored. Students must attend 75% of the total number of classes taught. In exceptional cases, legally foreseen, the traditional class attendance may be substituted by the submission of a research assignment. 

- In accordance with the regulation of evaluation, students must have a minimum grade of 10 points to obtain final approval (none of the assessment components can sum less than 8 points). The failure to achieve the minimum score of 10 points implies non approval in the discipline and the obligation to repeat the evaluation.

Calculation formula of final grade

Final grade expressed on a scale of 0 to 20.

A. 70% of the final grade in the UC results from the evaluation of the practical assignment carried out by the students, in small groups: an assignment in which students have to plan and describe an intervention with a perpetrator / offender or group of offenders (including the case design, the offender / aggressor assessment and intervention steps and strategies). This work is developed during the semester and will be presented as a role-playing of the intervention at the end of the classes- It is complemented with a brief written synopsis of the case. 
This assignment includes the following evaluation components: "Field work" (30%) + "Practical work or project" (40%).


B. 30% of the final grade in the UC results from a written work, carried out individually, in which the student will complete a worksheet, made available by the teacher before the end of the semester.
This assignment includes the evaluation component of "Written work" (30%).

Examinations or Special Assignments

In the legally provided situations, in which students cannot carry out the same assessment assignments that their colleagues will present, the student must negotiate with the responsible teacher the delivery of an alternative work, with the same objectives and an equivalent content.

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

In exceptional cases, foreseen in the regulations or in cases duly justified and accepted as valid by the school’s competent committees, students may be evaluated outside the usual context and regular calendar, through the completion of a written project with a content similar to what other students have done to assess the practical and the theoretical components.

In these cases, the student should contact the teacher responsible for the discipline at the beginning of the semester to define the rules and methodologies of the alternative evaluation.

Classification improvement

There is a possibility of reformulating the individual written work, once, until the “época de recurso” of the following school year in which the student obtained the approval. 

There is no possibility of repeating the practical work / the group role-playing