“The Broker of Reality”: A Scoping Review of Moral Reconation Therapy

ABSTRACT

Purpose

This scoping review aims to identify the evidence-based literature supporting Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT), a cognitive-behavioral treatment program created in 1987 and implemented in correctional-treatment settings across the US. Social work students and practitioners are among MRT’s facilitators.

Method

We analyze the reliability and validity of the most recent meta-analysis of MRT, covering studies published between 1988 and 2010. We then identify 669 potential publications on MRT published between 2011 and 2021.

Results

Our search across Google Scholar and eleven academic databases yielded zero peer-reviewed studies on MRT’s effectiveness or outcomes.

Discussion

We explore themes that emerged from the exclusion criteria to describe how MRT’s evidence claims are not supported by peer-reviewed research. Social workers should be prepared to assess the reliability, quality, and rigor of evidence supporting the interventions they use. This review offers interesting challenges and learning opportunities for social work students learning about social work research.

KEYWORDS:

• Moral Reconation Therapy
• evidence-based practice
• social work education
• criminal-justice
• forensic social work

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analyzed in this study.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.