Attrition in a community treatment program for child sexual abusers

The current preoccupation is with risk prediction in sexual offenders and t he associated emphasis on effective models of treatment. However; a few stu dies have identified noncompliance with treatment and attrition races as pl aying an important role in later sexual recidivism This study-the Challenge Project-reports on attrition rates in a community treatment project for ch ild sexual abusers in Southeast London. The researchers have attempted to i dentify which variables can predict attendance at and completion of treatme nt. The findings for the first 78 men in treatment for at least 1 year are that variables associated with psychological difficulties and childhood tra uma are consistently more important in predicting treatment completion than offense-related variables. The sexual recidivism rate for the community sa mple was so low after an average of 3 years at risk that it was not possibl e to examine its relationship with compliance in treatment.