Psychosocial prevention programs against radicalization and extremism: a meta-analysis of outcome evaluations / Programas de prevención psicosocial contra la radicalización y el extremismo: meta-análisis de las evaluaciones de los resultados

Politically, religiously, and otherwise motivated radicalization and violent extremism is a topic of high priority in many countries. Therefore, beyond intelligence and police measures, there is a strong increase of psychosocial prevention programs in this field. However, little is known about their effectiveness. We aimed to fill this research gap by conducting a systematic international review and meta-analysis of outcome evaluations. We screened about 14,000 reports on the topic of extremism prevention, but in spite of broad criteria of eligibility, we only found nine more or less well-controlled outcome evaluations from seven countries. Six programs addressed religious/ethnic extremism, one targeted nationalist/separatist extremism, and one different types of extremism. Most evaluations had a quasi-experimental pre-post design, only one contained a randomized controlled trial (RCT). Overall, programs had a significant mean positive effect on behavioral and psychosocial outcomes related to extremism (d = 0.50, SE = 0.12). Regarding the specific effects of the programs on psychosocial aspects such as for example extremist attitudes alone, we found similar results (d = 0.56, SE = 0.11). We found stronger effects for programs with target groups from mixed ethnic backgrounds and approaches addressing both at-risk individuals and participants from the general population. Despite these promising results, the low internal validity of most evaluations and small number of eligible studies limit generalization. More high-quality evaluations are clearly needed. These would help to allocate resources in an evidence-oriented manner and provide a better understanding of the mechanisms of successfully preventing radicalization and violent extremism

La radicalización y el extremismo violento por causas políticas, religiosas o de otro tipo es un tema prioritario en muchos países. Además, más allá de las medidas de servicios de inteligencia y policiales, hay un aumento de los programas de prevención psicosocial en este campo. Sin embargo, no se sabe mucho de su eficacia. Para llenar este vacío en la investigación llevamos a cabo una revisión sistemática internacional y un meta-análisis de la evaluación de los resultados. Revisamos alrededor de 14,000 informes sobre prevención del extremismo, pero a pesar de que utilizamos un criterio de selección de artículos amplio solo encontramos nueve evaluaciones de resultados más o menos bien controladas de siete países. Seis programas abordaban el extremismo religioso/étnico, uno el nacionalista/separatista y uno consistía en un ensayo controlado aleatorizado (ECA). En general, los programas mostraron un efecto promedio positivo y significativo en los resultados comportamentales y psicosociales relacionados con el extremismo (d = 0.50, SE = 0.12). En cuanto a los efectos específicos de los programas en las dimensiones psicosociales, tal como las actitudes extremistas, encontramos unos efectos similares (d = 0.56, SE = 0.11). Hallamos efectos mayores en los programas con grupos diana de antecedentes étnicos mixtos y enfoques que se dirigían tanto a sujetos en riesgo como a participantes de la población general. A pesar de unos resultados prometedores, la escasa validez interna de la mayoría de las evaluaciones y el bajo número estudios que cumplían los criterios de selección limitan la generalización. En consecuencia, se necesitan más estudios con diseños de buena calidad. Estos ayudarían a asignar los recursos sobre la base de evidencia científica y proporcionarían una mejor comprensión de los mecanismos de prevención con éxito del extremismo violento y la radicalización

Prisoners with Islamist Relations: Are Prisoner Files a Valuable Data Source for Individual Assessment and for Research?

Violent extremism research is still lacking a sound empirical basis for the validation of assessment instruments. Yet there is a growing need for these instruments to assess the dangerousness of individuals, but also the success of interventions. By analysing prisoner files of one female and 39 male inmates (average age 28.83 years, SD = 7.58) with administratively assigned Islamism-related security labels in Bavarian prisons, we tried to clarify two questions: Firstly, is it possible to collect relevant data from prisoner files drawing on risk assessment procedures? Secondly, how do inmates associated with the Salafist scene (security label "Salafist scene") differ from those who are apparently involved with terror networks (security label "terror"), and do these differences predict the risk they pose? Our results suggest that files are a valuable, though not perfect data source for individual assessment and research. The two groups defined by the labels differ significantly in their biographies, mental health, and behaviour. Conclusions pertaining to biographical background factors, risk assessment, and management are discussed.