Cognitive behavioral interventions basically consist of a problem-centered approach that seeks to help people identify and change dysfunctional beliefs, thoughts, and patterns that contribute to the incidence of problematic (antisocial, risky, and delinquent) behavior in children and adolescents.
Cognitive behavioral interventions emphasize, above all, the functional analysis of behavior and its relationship with cognitions, focusing in particular on patterns of interpretation of social situations and decision-making processes adopted by young people.
These interventions are based on the principles of cognitive behavioral psychotherapy, although this does not mean that the scope of the intervention is necessarily “therapeutic”, nor that the beneficiary must have a mental disorder. Alternatively, interventions can be psychological or psychosocial in nature, and can be applied individually or in groups, as well as in-person or remotely, such as via video calls.
Currently, this type of intervention has been used both in the field of secondary prevention (focusing on social groups that, according to the evidence, are more vulnerable and have a higher risk of engaging in criminal activity and/or victimization) and tertiary prevention (aimed at those who have already committed offences, with a focus on preventing recidivism) of violence against children and young people.