Christoffer Rahm, psychiatrist and associate professor at Karolinska Institutet, has been granted funding from Safe Online for a new international research project. The aim is to build a global database and long-term research platform focusing on the prevention of child sexual abuse - through increased knowledge, international collaboration and studies of long-term effects.
Safe Online recently awarded $6.7 million to projects around the world following an open call for proposals in 2024. Out of over 300 applications, only 20 projects were awarded funding. One of the selected initiatives is led by Christoffer Rahm, whose research team has been developing methods to prevent child sexual abuse for several years - including by offering treatment to people at risk, before a crime occurs.
The new project is entitled "Building a Global Data Infrastructure for Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Research: The DARE PREVENTION Repository and PRISM Cohort Study" and aims to establish a global data infrastructure for perpetrator prevention research. The project consists of two main parts: a data repository (DARE PREVENTION Repository) and a long-term study (PRISM Cohort Study).
- The research field we work in, perpetrator prevention, has received a major boost in the last ten years. With our new research project, in collaboration with twelve other internationally leading research groups, we will set up a repository so that all the data from these studies can be collected in one place and made available for new analyses. For example, we will be able to compare different treatments with each other and do large pooled analyses. We will also start a prospective cohort study for patients who have participated in clinical trials, so that they can be followed over many years. The aim is to study the interaction between risk and protective factors and gain a better understanding of the long-term effects of treatments, says Christoffer Rahm.
The project builds on the work that Rahm's research group has already conducted, including clinical treatment programs that have shown promising results in reducing the risk of future abuse. Now the research group wants to take the next step through joint data collection in international collaborations.
- Thanks to Safe Online's generous support, we will be able to build the repository, program the cohort study, and organize conferences in Stockholm for the international research network. The repository and cohort will hopefully only grow in importance as they are filled with more data, so it is also a gift to the younger members of the research team - to be well positioned for future research. With the support of Safe Online, we also become part of their fantastic international network - not only of researchers and experts from different areas of society, but also from civil society organizations and the business community, says Rahm.
With the help of robust data, long-term follow-up and global collaboration, the project hopes to contribute new, evidence-based knowledge that can make a real difference - both in Sweden and internationally.
- We want to create structures that last over time and help us understand what actually works. It is fundamentally about protecting children - and about contributing everything we can from the research side to achieve that goal, concludes Christoffer Rahm.
