A Review of Childhood Sexual Abuse Perpetration Prevention Programs.

Abstract

The present review examines existing childhood sexual abuse prevention programs that are focused on providing services to individuals who are at risk of perpetration. We describe several perpetrator-oriented prevention programs with evaluation data as well as avenues for future development and research. Perpetration prevention programs can be divided into anonymous and non-anonymous programs. Anonymous programs include those that provide support via helplines and those that provide self-guided digital interventions. Non-anonymous programs provide traditional psychotherapy. There are several prevention programs with limited evaluation data, but no research to date has aggregated these findings and provided a comprehensive assessment of perpetration prevention. There is insufficient evidence to determine whether perpetration prevention programs are effective. More rigorous evaluations of secondary prevention programs are needed. Despite this, early data suggests that perpetration prevention programs are promising.