Dr Zhi Xiang On1
1Back On Track Psychology, Kew, Australia, 2The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia
Biography:
Dr Zhi Xiang On is a clinical psychologist who also held endorsement in neuropsychology, forensic psychology and educational and developmental psychology. He is the clinic director of Back On Track Psychology. Dr On is passionate about helping individuals understand their strengths and uniqueness, supporting them on their journey to lifelong well-being. He offers supervision and secondary consultations to fellow clinicians, drawing on his experience in teaching tertiary-level psychology and publishing research in peer-reviewed journals. He has been invited to present at both national and international conferences on topics such as autism and ADHD assessment, family violence, and psychological well-being.
Abstract:
Cognitive impairment is pervasive in prisons. Meta-analytic evidence indicates a lifetime history of traumatic brain injury in approximately half of incarcerated adults (Hunter et al., 2023); attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder prevalence ranges from 8% to 26% depending on diagnostic method (Young et al., 2015; Fazel & Favril, 2024); and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder affected 36% of young people sentenced to detention in Western Australia, where 89% showed severe impairment in at least one neurodevelopmental domain (Bower et al., 2018).
This burden has direct treatment consequences. Offence-focused programmes presuppose the attention, verbal comprehension, memory, and executive control that many participants lack. A meta-analysis of 114 studies (41,438 offenders) reported 27.1% attrition from correctional treatment, and non-completers show elevated recidivism, potentially exceeding untreated comparisons (Olver et al., 2011; McMurran & Theodosi, 2007).
Cognitive assessment enables a corrective by matching programme parameters to the profile. The standard Reasoning and Rehabilitation programme reduces reoffending by approximately 14% (Tong & Farrington, 2006) but assumes intact cognition. Its revision for neurodivergent and mentally disordered offenders (shortened, simplified, delivered with concrete and multisensory materials) achieved 80–89% completion with medium-to-large effects on problem-solving, violent attitudes, and coping in controlled trials (Yip et al., 2013; Jotangia et al., 2015). Brain-injury-informed screening and support in custody (Williams et al., 2018) and cognitive remediation (Vita et al., 2021) offer complementary profile-specific strategies.
This presentation integrates these findings into a screen–profile–modify pathway for Australian and New Zealand correctional practice, arguing that cognitive assessment is a precondition for effective and equitable rehabilitation.