The paraphile project: primary prevention program for people with paraphilia and their important others

Abstract

<h3>Objectives</h3> In 2019, the pilot research project Paraphile started due to the lack of policy and early interventions focused on people at higher risk of sexual offending in the Czech Republic. Descriptive data and case histories of clients will be presented. <h3>Methods</h3> In the first 12 months after the programme´s official launch, 49 individuals contacted the project and stated an interest in participating. Awareness of the programme has been ensured through media campaigns, peers and self-supportive communities, and the internet. A telephone screening has been conducted via a 17-item semi-structured interview. Of the 44 who completed the screening, forty individuals were interviewed by a clinician, and thirty-eight completed the full assessment battery. <h3>Results</h3> Twenty-four men with self-identified paraphilia/hypersexual impulses and five close persons have taken part in an anonymous and confidential treatment program. The remaining ten individuals neither met the diagnostic criteria of paraphilia. No sociodemographic data are available due to guaranteed anonymity. Nine men (37,5%) reported fetishist sexual preference, eight men (33,3%) reported pedo-hebephilic sexual preference, three men (12,5%) reported coercive sexual preference, and four men (16,7%) reported hypersexual impulses or behaviour. With respect to criminal history, two of the sample of pedophiles and hebephiles reported having committed child pornography offenses. <h3>Conclusions</h3> The present abstract reports first preliminary results of a prevention project Paraphile, which aims at reaching self-identified paraphiles at higher risk of sexual offending in the Czech Republic. <h3>Conflicts of Interest</h3> No conflict of interest.