Development of three self-describing tools to assess the risk of relapse among sexual offenders

Project date range: 04.2019 – 03.2021

Description

On April 1st, 2019, a research project started addressing the recidivism risk of sexual offenders. The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and is carried out as part of a joint project called @myTabu.

The aim of @myTabu is the development and evaluation of a therapist-based online intervention for child abusers and child pornography consumers. Until now, there are only a few professional therapeutical interventions and especially in rural areas they are missing completely. Therefore, the project aims to close this gap and to prevent relapses in order to contribute to the prevention of sexual violence against children and adolescents.

Before establishing a nationwide online intervention (in addition to probation / supervision), its effectiveness must first be proven empirically. For this purpose, scientifically qualified tools are needed to assess the recidivism risk among sexual offenders and the differentiated therapeutic effect of the online intervention. Therefore, the aim of this research project is to develop and validate such assessment tools. Because of their advantages, the developed instruments should be used online. This allows a complete course evaluation since such surveys are characterized by their simple application as well as the possibility of frequent and cost-effective use. In addition, conspicuous behaviors can be detected directly without delay and studies have shown that offenders openly report previously unrecognized deviant behaviors in anonymous computer-based testing.

The developed instruments represent the first methods that enable an economic assessment of the probability of relapse through self-description.

Contact
M. Sc. Psych. Katharina Nitsche
Dr. Sonja Etzler
Prof. Dr. Martin Rettenberger

Click here for more information relating to the joint project @myTabu: www.gesundheitsforschung-bmbf.de/de/mytabu-online-intervention-fur-entlassene-kindesmissbrauchstater-wahrend-der-bewahrungs-8937.php