Quality research is the foundation of effective assessment, treatment, management, policy, and prevention strategies. ATSA supports the development of new knowledge and the translation of existing research into evidenced-based practices. ATSA encourages those involved in addressing the problem of sexual offending to adopt practices consistent with the best available evidence, and to change their practices as new evidence becomes available.
The following are ATSA’s major activities directed toward supporting research and disseminating research findings.
Student researchers are eligible for the Pre-Doctoral Research Grant and the Graduate Student Award.
Visit the Grants and Awards page for more information about all of the opportunities available.
This service promotes collaborations between ATSA members with clinical data and those with the time, interest and ability to transform data into useful knowledge.
To view this service, ATSA members may login here.
ATSA members and non-members can request to use the ATSA membership lists to recruit participants for research purposes. Be sure to note if student project either the supervisor or the student must be an ATSA member. In the cases of non-student request the individual requesting access must be an ATSA member. These stipulations ensure that those wishing access will be bound by ATSA’s code of conduct.
Requests should be directed to the Aniss Benelmouffok (aniss@atsa.com) and include the following information:
- Project overview:
- Research questions and summary of the supporting literature;
- Detailed data collection method and accompanying instruments;
- Copy of consent form and details about procedure to obtain informed consent from the participants.
- An argument that the research will expand the understanding of sexual abuse.
- All inclusion/exclusion criteria (e.g., whether the authors intend to collect data from US or international participants only)
- Intended target audience (e.g., clinicians only, specific professional qualifications, etc.)
- Certification of approval by a bono fide Institutional Review Board (IRB),
- Letter of support from your supervisor, if it is student project.
- The ATSA List-serve announcement proposed to recruit participants.
Requests are vetted by the Research Committee. The criteria used to vet requests are as follows:
- The topic is of interest and relevance to ATSA membership
- This includes research that examines effective practice, informs public policy, or addresses prevention strategies that identify effective assessment, treatment, and management of those who have sexually harmed others/are at risk of sexually harming others.
- The list-serve is an appropriate method of recruiting participants
- The intended participant pool consists ATSA members (e.g., clinicians, evaluators, researchers, agents, students).
- The project has been approved by a bono fide IRB.
- The official IRB approval letter should be included with the listserv request. The approving IRB can be the one at the institution where the study is conducted, or it can be an external IRB responsible for overseeing the research.
- The project is of significant academic rigor.
- The proposed study must either have preregistered hypotheses, or provide all the following: specific hypotheses, detailed data analytic plan, survey/instrument questions, dissemination plan
- The reviewers will evaluate the contribution of the proposed study aims to the field, the appropriateness of the proposed research plan, the suitability of the instruments/measures and their psychometric soundness, and the suitability of the proposed statistical analyses
- Given the large number of requests received, it is possible the reviewers may need to consider the novelty of the proposal, in order to prevent burnout of the participant pool. For example, a request may not be approved if the research questions are too similar to recent approved requests. If feasible, reviewers may give feedback on options for more novel research questions or advancements on previous proposals.
Approved projects will be required to provide a short (600-800 words) piece for the ATSA Forum that describes the project and the findings once the work is complete and report back to the Research Committee how many participants were recruited through the listserv.
Approved projects must also include the following paragraph in their recruitment announcement:
This study has been reviewed by the ATSA Research Committee who determined that it is of interest and relevance to ATSA membership, and that it has been approved by a recognized research ethics review board. Permission to use the ATSA list-serve to recruit participants does not imply that ATSA endorses or approves of the theory, hypotheses, or methods of this study.
This high-impact journal presents the latest research findings on sexual offending and sexual offenders. It is the official publication the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers, and free to members. Both ATSA members and non-members are welcome to submit a manuscript for review.
Access the journal here: Sexual Abuse
Check out the ATSA blog on http://sajrt.blogspot.com/.
The Forum Newsletter, a quarterly publication, is one of the significant benefits of being an ATSA members.
Heather M. Moulden, Ph.D., C. Psych., Forum Editor, curates articles from ATSA Members and regularly features the Message from the President, Book Reviews, ATSA Committee updates, and frequent research reviews.
As an ATSA Member, you can access the full catalog of Newsletters when logged in.
Join ATSA on crimspace, the criminology and criminal justice online academic community.
Visit the SAJRT Blog for the latest views and commentary on the field.