Abstract

This study aims to examine the effectiveness of cognitive behavioural group counselling in reducing anger and aggression among male prison inmates (hereinafter referred to as inmates) in Malaysia. This quasi-experimental study used a pre-test and post-test research design with a comparison group. A total of 80 male inmates participated in this study. The participants were assigned into experimental group (N=40) and control group (N=40) through purposive sampling. The experimental group received eight sessions of group counselling while the control groups were placed on a waiting list. The State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory-2 (STAXI-2) was used to measure anger and the Aggression Questionnaire (AQ) was used to measure aggression. The results using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) showed that both the anger and aggression were significantly reduced among the inmates in the experimental group compared with the control group. The implications of the findings and suggestions for future research are discussed. 

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