Active Research

CHANGE – curtailing harm and navigating growth: evidence for change pathways of young people who have engaged in harmful sexual behaviour

Response to child sexual abuse

Prevention of child sexual abuse
Understanding child sexual abuse

Research Topic areas

Drivers of child sexual abuse
Harmful sexual behaviours
Therapeutic responses

Project Duration

Start: July 2023

End: July 2026

Geographical Scope

NSW

Populations

Offenders/those engaging in child sexual abuse

Children (6-12 years)Adolescents (13-17 years)Young adults (18-25 years)

Gender

All genders

Project Lead

Professor Jo Spangaro, University of Wollongong

Dr Kenny Kor, University of Wollongong

Project lead email: spangaro@uow.edu.au

Project Team

Professor Simon Hackett, Durham University

Professor Jason Payne, Griffith University

Dr Summer Finlay, University of Wollongong

Dr Jacqui Cameron, University of Wollongong

Karlie Stewart, University of Wollongong

Associate Professor Julaine Allan, Charles Sturt University

Background

Early intervention for young people who engaged in harmful sexual behaviour is seen as crucial to secondary prevention. However, considerable shame is attached to seeking help for this stigmatised, hidden behaviour, and those who do receive help often withdraw from intervention. Current interventions also largely focus on risk reduction, rather than longer-term life-course outcomes.

Aims

CHANGE aims to investigate factors that contribute to completion and non-completion of specialist intervention for harmful sexual behaviours, examine how the completion and non-completion groups differ in recidivism and wellbeing outcomes after intervention, and identify change pathways to cease harmful sexual behaviours and improve life-course outcomes.

Methods

This mixed-methods design includes data linkage to compare recidivism and life-course outcomes between intervention completers and those who withdraw, interviews with young people and families about their lived experiences in education, employment, relationships, health and culture, and realist analysis to identify pathways to change.

Significance and Dissemination

CHANGE will contribute research-formed knowledge to help services develop more effective strategies to enable young people’s completion of intervention and enhance safety, and develop more nuanced policy responses in re-design of the service system to reduce recidivism and address young people’s long-term developmental needs.

Further Details

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Funding body:
The National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse

Funding budget:
$240,188 grant

Monitoring and governance:
This project is guided by oversight of the Project Advisory Group

Australian Human Research Ethics Committee:
This project is subject to ethical oversight by the Sydney Children's Hospital Network Research Ethics Committee, NSW Population & Health Services Research Ethics Committee, and the NSW AH&MRC Human Research Ethics Committee

Webpage link:
https://nationalcentre.org.au/research/change-curtailing-harm-and-navigating-growth-evidence-for-change-pathways-of-young-people-who-have-engaged-in-harmful-sexual-behaviour/

Prevention of child sexual abuse

From bystanders to allies: a structural feminist perspective for supporting child victims and adult survivors of child rape and torture.

Emma Rees
Queensland University of Technology

Understanding child sexual abuse

Preventing child sexual abuse by understanding perpetrators’ motivations

Kelly Richards
Queensland University of Technology, School of Justice

Needs of victims and survivors

Supporting Victims and Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse: Rapid Evidence Reviews

Michaela Guthridge
The National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse