INSIGHT intervention for individuals who sexually offended against children: preliminary results of a randomized pilot study

ABSTRACT

This study examined the preliminary results of a 25-session individual intervention program designed for individuals who sexually offended against children (ISOCs) in Portugal, whether in prison or the community setting. A randomized controlled pilot study was conducted, where eighteen ISOCs were randomly assigned to receive the INSIGHT intervention plus treatment as usual (TAU) or only TAU. ISOCs in the treatment condition demonstrated significant reductions in cognitive distortions related to child sexual abuse, some early maladaptive schemas, psychopathology, interpersonal problems, and risk of sexual violence, along with increases in self-esteem, empathy, and empathy towards victims, all with larger effect sizes. Most of these improvements were sustained at the 3-month follow-up. The intervention shows a potential promise in reducing the risk of sexual violence by addressing risk-relevant factors. Further evaluation with a larger sample is needed for more robust conclusions.

KEYWORDS:

• Pilot trial
• intervention program
• child sexual abuse
• individuals who sexually offended against children

Open Scholarship

This article has earned the Center for Open Science badges for Open Materials. The materials are openly accessible at https://osf.io/59XSA/.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to their containing information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.

Additional information

Funding

The study was conducted at the Psychology Research Center (PSI/01662), School of Psychology, University of Minho. Marta Sousa was funded by a Doctoral research grant from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, grant number 2020.06634.BD.