Welcome to our next IATSO Conference in Poznan, Poland!
August 26th to September 28th, 2025
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Welcome to our next IATSO Conference in Poznan, Poland!
August 26th to September 28th, 2025
Parallel Sessions
We are happy to announce that these parallel sessions will be presented at our conference in Trondheim, Norway:
Technology-assisted harmful sexual behaviour among children and adolescents – Understanding and intervening
Jennifer Allotey
Do the sexual fantasies of minor-attracted people differ depending on the target?
Ross M. Bartels
An overview of the development and therapeutic approach of Stand Strong, Walk Tall and Det Finnes Hjelp
Sarah Beggs Christofferson, & Christine Friestad
The Danish Sexual Offender Treatment and Research Program (DASOP): Possible effects on criminal reoffending?
Susanne Bengtson, Ellids Kristensen, Michael Ibsen, & Niklas Långström
Protective and desistance factors among individuals who have committed a sexual offense (ICSO): Need for a clarified articulation
Caroline Benouamer, Emilie Telle, Luca A. Tiberi, Romanie Andris, Louise Desclin, & Thierry H. Pham
Links between aggression-related sexual fantasies, sexual harassment and the use of coercive strategies in men and women
Joseph B. Birke, & Rebecca Bondü
A dialogical tool for prevention of harmful sexual behavior among adolescents
Ulla Bjørndahl, & Rona Eriksen Andersgaard
Play it Right part 2: A dialogical tool for prevention of harmful sexual behavior among adolescents with intellectual disabilities
Ulla Bjørndahl, & Rona Eriksen Andersgaard
Prison climate and rehabilitation of men with sexual convictions: The relationship between relationships, readiness and compassion
Nicholas Blagden
The Corbett Centre: A case study for reintegration of people with sexual convictions
Nicholas Blagden, & Eve Penford
Adverse childhood experiences, trauma-informed principles and sexual violence risk assessment: Are we where we need to be?
Laura Bowden, & Emily Glorney
Developing and delivering a trauma-informed, compassion-focused therapy programme for individuals with histories of complex trauma, mental health, neurodiversity and sexually harmful behaviours
Laura Bowden, Catherine Jones, Sarah Lund, & Ellen Poynter
The running clinical trials PRIORITY, GPP and BRIDGE
Maria Breide, Allison K. McMahan, Malin Joleby, Johan Holmberg, Tobias Lundgren, Katerina Klapilova, Jozef Metenko, Nina Vaaranen-Valkonen, Rafael Ballester-Arnal, Gerhard Andersson, Peer Briken, Christoffer Rahm, & PRIORITY consortium
Practical and ethical considerations of research with incarcerated women: Learnings from a bi-regional study of online sexual abuse and exploitation of children (OSAEC) offenders in the Philippines
Margaret Brennan, Elaine Byrnes, Nicole Munns, Gabriel Katz-Wisel, Melvin Jabar, Zaldy Collado, & Maria Caridad Tarroja
Responding to online sexual abuse and exploitation of children (OSAEC) in the Philippines: Towards an understanding of offence presentation, risk and management considerations
Margaret Brennan, Elaine Byrnes, Kieran McCartan, Nicole Munns, Gabriel Katz-Wisel, Melvin Jabar, Zaldy Collado, & Maria Caridad Tarroja
Live distance child abuse from a police perspective
Sigrid Buseth
Development of a rating scale for offending dynamics of men convicted for sexual offenses
Annastasia Camardella, Laura Biedermann, Martin Rettenberger, & Daniel Turner
The relevance of the self-regulation model for the explanation of sexual violence
Annastasia Camardella, Laura Biedermann, Martin Rettenberger, & Daniel Turner
Preventing future harm: Case studies of juveniles in preventive sex offender treatment
Fabiola Casademont, Viktoria Märker, & Peer Briken
Mental health needs and barriers to treatment of people with a sexual interest in children: A systematic review
Agatha Chronos, Sara Jahnke, & Nicholas Blagden
A compassionate approach to prevention: The Aurora Project
Jordan Clayton
Individuals’ interpretation of scenarios included in the rape proclivity measure
Laleh Dadgardoust, & Leigh Harkins
Empathy for pain: A group comparison of autonomic empathic responding in sexual offenders against children
Natasha Daly, & Steven M. Gillespie
The embodied self: Exploring therapeutic interventions through a trauma lens with men who sexually offend
Maxine Daniels, & Amy Meeson
Mapping incel language: A longitudinal linguistic analysis of online incel speech
Melissa S. de Roos, & Christiana Nika
Over- and undertreatment in sex offender therapy: Evaluation of the degree of treatment in a specialist outpatient setting
Markus Dietl, & Markus Feil
Developing a core outcome set for the evaluation of psychoeducational programmes for individuals engaging in online child sexual abuse, technology-assisted harmful sexual behaviours, and their families: A Theory of Change approach
Erifili Efthymiadou
Establishing expert consensus on essential components and evaluation of programmes for the prevention of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) offences: An international e-Delphi study
Erifili Efthymiadou, & Sarah Wefers
Exploring essential components of programmes for the prevention of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) offences: Focus-groups and interviews with individuals who have committed CSAM offences
Erifili Efthymiadou, & Sarah Wefers
The use of online-based self-report instruments in sexual risk assessment (@MyTabu)
Sonja Etzler, Katharina Nitsche, Ann-Sophie Tröger, & Martin Rettenberger
Health service utilization among persons convicted of sexual crimes: Results from a national cohort of prison inmates
Christine Friestad, Anne Bukten, Ingeborg Skjærvø, Anja Vaskinn, & Marianne Riksheim Stavseth
Latent profiles of people convicted of sexual offences in the U.K.
Steven M. Gillespie, & Ian A. Elliott
Etiological aspects of hypersexuality in men convicted of a sexual offense
Priscilla Gregório Hertz, Martin Rettenberger, Daniel Turner, Wolfgang Retz, & Reinhard Eher
Emotions are the clue, not the problem
Ellen Gunst
Psychological characteristics and offense risk among men who own sex dolls
Craig A. Harper, & Rebecca Lievesley
Social attitudes to sex doll ownership
Craig A. Harper, & Rebecca Lievesley
Release and relapse: Understanding sexual recidivism in a sample of US Men
Danielle Arlanda Harris
Understanding wellbeing and desistance in men who received treatment for sexual offending during adolescence
Danielle Arlanda Harris
A Delphi study on barriers to CSA prevention and intervention programs in the European Union
Lina Sophie Haubrock, Jana Hillert, Peer Briken, & Arne Dekker
Talking for Change: The evaluation of Canada’s first anonymous child sexual abuse perpetration prevention helpline
Ainslie Heasman, Skye Stephens, Ian V. McPhail, Cory Gerritsen, & Sarah Moss
ACUTE-2007 and STABLE-2007 predict recidivism for men adjudicated for child sexual exploitation material offending
Maaike Helmus, & Kelly Babchishin
Web-based treatment for individuals who sexually offend: A systematic review on efficacy and issues
Jana Hillert, Lina Sophie Haubrock, Arne Dekker, & Peer Briken
Narrating agency in investigative interviews of online sexual abusers
Anne Iversen, Lisbet Frang Christiansen, & Eva Langvik
Complex associations between stigma experiences and willingness to seek therapy among pedohebephilic people
Sara Jahnke, Ian V. McPhail, & Jan Antfolk
Secret-keeping in therapy by clients who are sexually attracted to children
Sara Jahnke, Nicholas Blagden, Ian V. McPhail, & Jan Antfolk
Supporting context figures of (potential) sex offenders: Stop it Now! the Netherlands (NL)
Ellen Janssen
From Prevent It to Prevent It 2.0: Manual revisions
Malin Joleby, Allison K. McMahan, Christoffer Rahm, Gerhard Andersson, & PRIORITY consortium
Secondary trauma in forensic professionals working with perpetrators of sexual violence
Marije Keulen-de Vos, & Funda Sanci
The court of public opinion: Public perceptions towards perpetrators of sexual violence
Marije Keulen-de Vos, Vera Kuipers, & Kate Wray
Inpatient treatment program for sex offenders in Bohnice Psychiatric Hospital, Prague
Jan Koznar, & Petr Weiss
Hypersexual and paraphilic behavior disorders in ICD-11 & DSM-5-TR
Richard Krueger, & Meg Kaplan
The power of disclosing sibling sexual abuse
Abbie Lake
Sexual abuse. Pedophilia, psychiatry, and legal certainty
Thore Langfeldt
Lay perception of the internet child abusers
Eva Langvik, Lisbet Frang Christiansen, & Anne Iversen
Applying the RNR principles to novel correctional programs for people who sexually offended
Johanna Lätth, Jonas Lennestål, Louise Starfelt Sutton, Niklas Långström, & Christoffer Rahm
Preventing child sexual abuse material use: Prevent It RCT results
Johanna Lätth, Niklas Långström, & Christoffer Rahm
Online child pornography offenders in France: Presentation of a multidisciplinary research program
Cédric Le Bodic, & Barbara Smaniotto
Professional experiences of working with people who are attracted to children
Rebecca Lievesley, & Craig A. Harper
Understanding the lived experiences of men who own sex dolls
Rebecca Lievesley, & Craig A. Harper
Looping disruption: A relational mechanism enhancing treatment readiness among individuals convicted of sexual offending
Stina Lindegren
Participants’ experiences of sex offender treatment: Searching for desisting narrative identities
Stina Lindegren
The Therapist Rating Scale-Revised (TRS-2): Pre- and post-therapy underlying structure and correlates in two independent samples
Stina Lindegren, & Liam E. Marshall
How to make a sexual offender? Consequences of the genetics research on pedophilia
Anders Lindskog
Voyeurism: What is it and what do we know so far?
Victoria P. M. Lister, & Theresa A. Gannon
One size does not fit all: The combination reaction of stalking and sexual violence, in the assessment of risk
Nicholas Longpré, Maria Tachmetzidi-Papoutsi, & Ewa Stefanska
Rape Myth Acceptance scale: An Item Response Theory analysis
Nicholas Longpré, Nicola Beckett, & Ewa Stefanska
Community-based case management & the experiences of registered persons in New Zealand
Helen Mackenzie-Auld
Desistance, recovery, and justice capital: Putting it all together
Kieran McCartan, & Hazel Kemshall
Survey of current practices in the assessment, treatment and management of people convicted of a sexuel offence in Europe
Kieran McCartan
Understanding and responding to sibling sexual abuse and its links to family dysfunction
Kieran McCartan
Changes in sexual thoughts and behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic
Allison K. McMahan, Kailey M. Roche, Rosa Dreyhaupt, Michael C. Seto, & Christoffer Rahm
Supporting context figures of minor attracted persons and persons who committed sex offences in specialised ambulatory treatment
Liesbeth Merckx
Non-photographic images of child sexual abuse: The risks and public policy responses
Hannah L. Merdian, Sarah Wefers, Hannah K. Bradshaw, & Derek Perkins
Relooking at statutory rape laws in Malaysia applied on young offenders: Perspectives of the Malaysian police officers
Taufik Mohammad, & Ricardo Barroso
Stop It Now! Scotland - Database analysis and development of data quality standards
Fiona Moran, Odran Doherty, Sarah Graham, Stuart Allardyce, Sean M. Hammond, Derek Perkins, & Hannah L. Merdian
Talking for Change: The evaluation of Canada’s first child sexual abuse perpetration prevention psychotherapy intervention
Sarah Moss, Cory Gerritsen, Skye Stephens, Ian V. McPhail, & Ainslie Heasman
Project Paraphile: Evaluation of the effects of a therapeutic intervention
Marek Navrátil
A critical evaluation of online child sexual exploitation theories: Current gaps and future directions for psychological research and clinical practice
Grace Nock, Louise Dixon, & Nichola Tyler
On the role of bias in risk assessment
Verena Oberlader
‘All virtual roads lead to Rome Trondheim’: Examining online offending paths leading to the sexual exploitation of adolescents
Sarah Paquette, Julien Chopin, & Francis Fortin
An examination of opportunities for sexual crimes against adult victims by female sexual offenders
Amelie Pedneault
The application of the Dual Control Model (DCM) on individuals convicted of sexual offenses and the relevance of the concepts of sexual excitation and sexual Inhibition
Martin Rettenberger, Reinhard Eher, Priscilla Gregório Hertz, & Daniel Turner
Introducing Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA) as part of Norwegian probation
Maren Riis, & Lisa Gartner
Courtroom use of the VRAG-R in civil commitment of sexually dangerous persons
Jennifer Ritchie, Devon Gibbs, & Brian W. Judd
Overview of the Griffith Youth Forensic Service
John Rynne
Explaining the unexplainable: Sexual recidivism in a sample of Norwegian men
Ingeborg Jenssen Sandbukt
The impact of testosterone-lowering medication on recidivism in individuals convicted of sexual offenses
Julia Sauter, Laura M. Lingenti, Martin Rettenberger, Daniel Turner, Peer Briken, & Tatjana Voß
@myTabu: Characteristics of the clinical trial and the acceptance of web–based intervention among individuals who have committed sexual offenses against children
Sonja Schröder
Supporting context figures of minor attracted persons and persons who committed sex offences at Stop it Now! Flanders (BE)
Alana Schuerwegen
The prevalence of mental disorders and the opportunities and limitations of risk assessment for inidividuals convicted of offenses related to child sexual exploitation material (CSEM)
Alexander Seiser, Reinhard Eher, & Martin Rettenberger
‘Dual identity’ and the forgotten trauma in the histories of people who have sexually offended
Sarah Senker, & Kieran McCartan
The impact of (re)location within multiple perpetrator sexual offenses (MPSOs)
Kristina Shatokhina, & Leigh Harkins
Navigating a dark place: What do incels make of their experience and how can we help them?
Brandon Sparks, Alyssa Maryn, & Alexandra Zidenberg
A theory of sexual identity development for minor attracted males
Jasmin H. Stevenson
Construct validity of SSPI and SSPI-2: Relations with clinical symptoms and sexual development
Filip Szumski, Dominika Bartoszak, Natalia Andrzejczyk, & Mercedes Sakrajda
Community attitudes towards institutional child sex offenders
Tiffany E. Taylor, & Andy Williams
The adverse childhood experiences of GYFS Clients
Lisa Thomsen
Emotions recognition competence of male forensic inpatients who committed a sexual offence (FICSOs)
Luca A. Tiberi, Xavier Saloppé, Audrey Vicenzutto, & Thierry H. Pham
Is accurate recognition of emotion expressions associated with lower actuarial and structured professional judgment risk assessment scores? An exploratory research among forensic inpatients
Luca A. Tiberi, Emilie Telle, Xavier Saloppé, Audrey Vicenzutto, & Thierry H. Pham
Neuropsychological deficits in men convicted of a sexual offense against children
Daniel Turner, & Martin Rettenberger
Assessment and pharmacological treatment of compulsive sexual behavior disorder: The new WFSBP guidelines
Daniel Turner, & Peer Briken
Is it all about the format of the message? Exploring factors affecting the perception of reoffence risk
Kasia Uzieblo, Jeffrey Lauer, Vivienne de Vogel, & Wineke Smid
“Sexual predators do not deserve my empathy”: Knowledge about and attitudes towards minor-attracted persons and Stop it Now! in mental health professionals
Kasia Uzieblo, Floor Somers, & Minne De Boeck
The characteristics and treatment needs of clients of child sexual abuse prevention programmes: Norwegian and New Zealand samples
Anja Vaskinn, & Jacinta Cording
A relapse prevention therapy programme for juvenile sex offenders (“ThePaS”)
Leonardo Vertone, Marcel Aebi, Daniela Imbach, Thomas Best, & Cornelia Bessler
Experiences of autism in prison-based interventions to address sexual offending
Luke Vinter
Understanding and deterring online sexual communications with minors: A qualitative study
Sarah Wefers, Tess Dieseth, & Emily George
Clinical experiences so far from the Norwegian ‘Det Finnes Hjelp’ programme
Anne Wold
Reducing risk by other means than by treatment. The omnipresence of the correctional system: A case study
Amanda Young-Hauser
Harmful sexual behaviour among children and adolescents: Prevention strategies and proposals for interventions
Oddfrid Skorpe Tennfjord
Problematic and harmful sexual behaviour among children and adolescent is not rare. It is estimated that among 20-30 % of sexual assault is committed by a person under 18 years (Barbaree & Marshall, 2008), and about 50 % of adult sexual offenders report deviant sexual interests in adolescence (Finkelhor, Omrod and Chaffin, 2009).
Why children and adolescents show problematic and harmful sexual behavour will however, vary. Studies often look into individual characteristics e.g. developmental problems, traumatization and learning disabilities (Hackett, 2014; Sandvik, Nesset, Berg og Søndenaa, 2017; JanusCentret 2021). Cultural and more community based approaches are more scarce.
This presentation will shed light to understand the link between causes of problematic and harmful sexual behaviour and different prevention strategies, in order to promote healthy sexual behaviour, or «sexual decency», in children and adolescents. The presentation will include an overview of different tools developed in the recent years to enhance healthy sexual behaviour. More targeted interventions where children and adolescents have shown problematic or harmful sexual behaviour, will also be offered.
Oddfrid Skorpe Tennfjord, clinical psychologist, phd. Tennfjord works at The regional center on violence, traumatic stress and suicide prevention, Region Mid-Norway (RVTS Midt). From 2015- 2021 she also worked as an Associate Professor at the Regional Centre for Child and Youth Mental Health and Child Welfare at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Tennfjord is the head of the Norwegian Competence Network of children and adolescents displaying problematic or harmful sexual behaviour as well as REBESSA (Resource team children and adolescents with problematic and harmful sexual behaviour). Tennfjord is also project manager of the web site www.seksuellatferd.no
Posters
We are happy to announce that these posters will be presented at our conference in Trondheim, Norway:
Ten years of the Swedish telephone help-line project PrevenTell – Lessons learned and future directions
Roberth Adebahr, Elin Zamore Söderström, Stefan Arver, Jussi Jokinen, & Katarina Görts Öberg
Conceptualization of a blended group treatment of patients with deviant sexual preference disorder consuming child abuse material
Marie Bergmann, & Simon Ewers
Are mental disorders associated with recidivism in men convicted of sexual offenses?
Laura Biedermann, Reinhard Eher, Martin Rettenberger, Kathrin Gaunersdorfer, & Daniel Turner
Rape in the Czech Republic: Definition, figures, offenders and their treatment
Šárka Blatníková, & Petr Zeman
Psychodynamic countertransference phenomena in group therapy for sex offenders: A case study from the observer's perspective
Susanne Bründl, & Viktoria Märker
Self-reported cognitive distortions, treatment retention and recidivism
Manon Duval, Yves Paradis, & Jean-Pierre Guay
The impact of ‘the Knock’ and the criminal justice journey for non-offending family members of individuals suspected of IIOC
Mille Fjelldal-Robertson
Internet-administered cognitive behavioral therapy for hypersexual disorder, with or without paraphilia(s) or paraphilic disorder(s) in men: A pilot study
Jonas Hallberg, Viktor Kaldo, Stefan Arver, Cecilia Dhejne, Marta Piwowar, Jussi Jokinen, & Katarina Görts Öberg
Assisting decisions in child protection service institutions with the RIC: The Risk Indication in Child sexual abuse
Brigitte C. Hansmann, & Reinhard Eher
Summary of current EU-funded prevention projects related to minor attracted persons
Lisann Högström, Tarik Korkutan, Arne Dekker, & Peer Briken
Visualized EU mapping of institutional face-to-face (F2F) therapy services for people at risk of committing child sexual abuse
Tarik Korkutan, Lisann Högström, Peer Briken, & Arne Dekker
A descriptive model of voyeuristic behavior
Victoria P. M. Lister, & Theresa A. Gannon
Patients’ experiences with “Det finnes hjelp”: A low-threshold health service for adults with a sexual interest in children
Jana Kristin Maack, Isak Joramo, Merete Berg Nesset, Camilla Buch Gudde, Line Elisabeth Solbakken, & Marita Sandvik
Altered neural and behavioral response to sexually implicit stimuli during a pictorial-modified Stroop task in pedophilic disorder
Christian Mannfolk, Benny Liberg, Christoph Abé, & Christoffer Rahm
Paraphilic disorders and compulsive sexual behavior disorder: Presentation of ongoing treatment studies
Josephine Savard
A cross-validation of the German version of the Revised Screening Scale for Pedophilic Interests (SSPI-2)
Sita Sophie Sielaff, Reinhard Eher, & Martin Rettenberger
Evaluation and implementation of a web- based training program to strengthen efforts to prevent sexual assault and violence
Charlotte Sparre, Stefan Arver, Elin Zamore Söderström, Markus Byström, Josephine Savard, & Katarina Görts Öberg
The pilot of a new internet offending assessment framework in Scotland
Geoff Tordzro-Taylor
Sexual offenders forensic inpatients who present an intellectual disability: Which specificities?
Audrey Vicenzutto, Luca A. Tiberi, Marine Bral, & Thierry H. Pham
The offending behaviour of those sentenced to the Order for Lifelong Restriction (OLR)
Rachel Webb, & Mark McSherry
Gender concept in child sexual offenders
Monika Zielona-Jenek
The Why, the Who and the Wherefore: Explanations, Self-Change and Social Friction in Men's Narratives of Sexual Violations
Anja Emilie Kruse
In this address, I ask and try to answer the question of what we can learn from the stories that men convicted of sex offenses tell about their sexually violent acts – and the stories they tell about themselves as a person who has committed such acts.
From a narrative criminology approach, the stories told of past harmdoing by those responsible for doing harm may affect their future behavior. This is so because experience is simultaneously represented and (re-)constructed in the telling of narratives, the meaning-making it entails and how storytelling contributes to (dis-)integrate harmdoing into a broader narrative of self, identity and future. The first part of this address will zoom in on the explanations – the why stories – that the 17 men I interviewed for my PhD project (2015-2020) gave in response to questions about how they ended up committing sexual violence.
Social responses to violence – and to stories of violence – may (re-)produce dominant understandings of violence and the harm resulting from it. However, social responses also carry subversive potential to redefine such understandings, potentially recognizing new forms of violence or harm and pushing narratives about selves and acts in new directions.
In the second part of the address, I will discuss the meaning and impact of social responses in and on developing narratives of committing and being convicted for sexual violence. The interpersonal responses that the participants encountered after having committed and been convicted for sex offences turned out to be important factors in the processes they engaged in to make sense of, and come to terms with, their acts and experiences. Some responses were pushing the men to re-evaluate their concepts of violation, violence and consent. Other responses were reinforcing experiences of having been unfairly treated by a victim-centered, over-vigilant justice system, and yet other responses caused stigma, fear and social isolation. Examples of responses and their impact in and on the men’s stories will be discussed in relation to narrative criminological thinking, as well as theorization on what helps or hinders desistance, rehabilitation and reintegration.
Anja Emilia Kruse is a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Criminology and Sociology of Law, University of Oslo, Norway, and a researcher at the Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies (NKVTS) in Oslo, Norway.