By investing in Prevent it in 2017, developed by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, we enabled the world’s first evidence-based anonymous online Cognitive Behavioral Therapy treatment for people with a sexual interest in children.
Back then we didn´t know if it would be possible to reach people with a sexual interest in children – or if it would be possible to change their behavior. The results of the project show both that it is possible to stop potential perpetrators from abusing children, and that people are susceptible to undergoing treatment and breaking harmful behavior.
Participants in Prevent it were recruited on Darknet forums. That – and the anonymity of online treatment – has been key success factors. By 2023, 700 people had taken part in the treatment and nearly 40 professionals had been trained. Prevent it has now been scaled up and is offered in Swedish, German, and Portuguese in addition to English.
We are incredibly proud that the lessons learned from Prevent It have inspired a paradigm shift, with other actors seeing interventions that reach out to perpetrators as a crucial component in stopping child sexual abuse. The project attracted early global interest and has inspired several international research projects that further develop and disseminate methods to reach out to potential perpetrators and reduce the risk of them committing abuse.
