From punitive attitudes to ethical sophistication of mental health professionals in the treatment of pedophiles: The theological and ethical significance of Robert Kegan's developmental theory.

• Main Author: Evans, Marguerite Emily.
• Other Authors: Doucet, Hubert
• Format: Others
• Published: University of Ottawa (Canada) 2009
• Subjects: Theology.
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10393/10032; http://dx.doi.org/10.20381/ruor-16617

The issue of pedophilia is receiving increasing public attention and is presented today as one of grave concern. From the literature and from my clinical experience as a Registered Nurse within a psychiatric institution, two facts emerge. Fact. (1) The scientific literature indicates an historical movement in the understanding of pedophilia--from an accepted institution, to criminal offence, to immorality, to, for some, an alternative lifestyle, to psychopathological disorder. Fact. (2) Paradoxically, people working in health care institutions where pedophiles should especially be considered as needing treatment and care (a) generally lack "understanding" and (b) view pedophilia as immorality and criminal offence warranting punishment and death. Thus there exists a problem which raises questions: (1) Why this paradoxical attitude? and (2) What can be done about it? My intent is to address these two questions. Therefore, to provide a clear understanding of the historical perception of pedophilia, I examine in chapter one the successive constructions of pedophilia and summarize the development of attitudes towards pedophilia and pedophiles in the course of Western civilization. In chapter two I circumscribe the current problem in health care institutions by (1) reviewing literature on professional caregivers' attitudes toward the pedophilic client to establish which of the diverse constructions of pedophilia analyzed in the historical research are assumed by such attitudes and (2) clarifying the notion of "attitude". Next, in chapter three I present a framework, specifically the constructive-developmental theory of Robert Kegan, which (a) proffers a view of what it means to be a fully human being and (b) I believe is relevant to caregivers' reconception of attitudes toward pedophiles in their care. In chapter four, I demonstrate this relevance by comparing and contrasting different views of human "being" as conceptualized by developmental theorists such as Kegan and as presumed from the empirical evidence of caregivers' attitudes. To adopt a medical construction of pedophilia may require ethical sophistication: namely, an interindividual ethic by Kegan's standard. Finally, in chapter five, with the knowledge gained from the analysis of caregivers' ethical models and attitudes, I outline the role of theology, the ethical implications of theology, and how caregivers can be helped to develop more-sophisticated moral attitudes toward pedophiles in their care. Thus the first four chapters of my dissertation constitute a "pre-text" for theological and ethical reflection and for illustrating how living-out a faith perspective, an ethic of care, and spirituality of compassion would mean that both the good of the person who is pedophilic and that of the community would be effected. The problem which I address in this dissertation project belongs to practical or applied ethics since it involves human action. My work is primarily a study presenting--from a particular angle--certain concerns and conclusions arising out of the scientific literature and my clinical experience in a psychiatric institution. It is a problem incident to a new realization of the role of theology and ethics. Within the literature, there is no evidence of attempts to seek a framework or to create a theory which (1) critiques a punitive response, (2) encourages ethical development of professional caregivers working in the area of treating pedophiles, and (3) guides more sophisticated moral attitudes and practices. Such a framework is the essence of my thesis. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)