Knowing what works can transform how we prevent child sexual abuse perpetration, worldwide.
The Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and The Royal’s Institute of Mental Health Research have announced the launch of Prevention Global, an ambitious research initiative and unique online resource hub that will showcase effective approaches to the prevention of child sexual abuse perpetration.
Prevention Global is for anyone and everyone committed to preventing child sexual abuse.
Where's the evidence?
The resource hub is a key piece of infrastructure supporting the prevention of child sexual abuse worldwide. It provides a one stop shop featuring insights, interventions and key organizations.
Sitting at the heart of Prevention Global will be a series of impact evaluations of seven high potential perpetration prevention programs. They include online- and in-person, and youth- and adult-focused programs. Rigorous evaluations of each, to be conducted in close collaboration with respective program developers, will inform policy, practice, and funding to support more effective efforts to prevent child sexual abuse worldwide.
“We will soon have an explosion of data to inform critical questions about what works and what needs work when it comes to effectively preventing child sexual abuse perpetration.” (Elizabeth Letourneau, PhD)
In addition to forthcoming impact evaluations to be completed in the coming 18 months, Prevention Global will publish a series of ‘deep dive’ knowledge products to explore the nature of, and opportunities and challenges inherent in, perpetration prevention – beginning with ‘Scalability’ and ‘Public Narrative’ in 2024.
The final seven
The team behind Prevention Global has been assessing over 40 high potential programs around the world since 2021. The seven programs selected for evaluation show encouraging signs of effectiveness as well as potential for scale, translation, and adaptation.
- Prevent It – Karolinska Institutet
- ReDirection – Protect Children
- Responsible Behavior With Younger Children – Moore Center [external evaluation]
- Stop It Now! UK & Ireland – Lucy Faithful Foundation
- Talking For Change – Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)
- Troubled Desire – Institute of Sexology and Sexual Medicine, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
- What’s OK? – Stop It Now! USA
A global effort needed
For Prevention Global’s Co-Directors (Elizabeth Letourneau, PhD and Michael Seto, PhD), the acceleration of efforts to develop effective perpetration prevention programs in recent years has been striking. Prevention Global itself is a result of a $10.3 million investment by the Oak Foundation, one of the world’s largest child sexual abuse prevention research investments.
Moore Center Director Elizabeth Letourneau, PhD has for 36 years led work on child sexual abuse prevention, practice, and policy. She observes a huge opportunity for progress in prevention that now lies ahead: “When we launched the Moore Center in 2012, there was one child sexual abuse perpetration prevention intervention in the world. There are now dozens, though most have not been rigorously evaluated. As a direct result of Oak Foundation’s investment, we will soon have an explosion of data to inform critical questions about what works and what needs work when it comes to effectively preventing child sexual abuse perpetration.”
The Royal’s Michael Seto, PhD is a psychologist and research leader specializing in sexual behaviors. He sees evidence and advocacy as essential in engaging wider society to champion perpetration prevention: “It is exciting to see perpetration prevention gain traction as part of a comprehensive response to child sexual abuse. There has been a huge increase in new interventions in the past decade, but the public, policymakers, and survivors and their advocates need to be sure that these interventions work. We will be able to carry out high quality evaluations to generate evidence that will support the growth of these programs and move us closer to the goal of eliminating child sexual abuse.”
Looking to the future
It is a stark reality that all the final seven programs, and the vast majority of the 40 assessed by Prevention Global, are delivered in the Global North. For prevention to be truly global, considerations of scale, translation, and adaptation in different economic and socio-political environments are crucial. Translation and adaptation will be central to Prevention Global’s future; using the foundation of impact evaluations to support program design, delivery, and evaluation around the world.
Explore Prevention Global now.
Child sexual abuse is preventable, not inevitable.
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ORGANISATION DETAILS
About the Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse: Established in 2012 at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse works to demonstrate that child sexual abuse is preventable, not inevitable. Our mission is to prevent child sexual abuse through targeted endeavors in five key areas: research, education, communications, advocacy, and policy. Learn more
About The Royal: The Royal is one of Canada’s foremost mental health care, teaching, and research hospitals and is home to the University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research. In collaboration with clients, families and community partners, we are expanding access to leading edge, evidence-based care that meets the needs of those with mental health and substance use issues and the families who support them. Learn more
MEDIA CONTACT
Aengus Ó Dochartaigh
Outreach Director
Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
aengus@jhu.edu
