Thank you for your interest in participating in our chat study! Through this service you can chat in real time, completely anonymously and free of charge with one of our therapists. We use the online self-help and research platform Troubled Desire for this purpose. Please take a moment to read the following information carefully.
We offer an anonymous, confidential and free chat-based intervention for those at risk or concerned about viewing child and early adolescent sexual material (abbreviated as "CSAM"). The therapeutic intervention follows a resource-oriented approach that builds on the experience of the prevention network "Don't Become a Perpetrator." The sessions will take the form of text messages delivered in a chat-based modality. We would like to test whether this chat intervention can have a positive effect on reducing the use of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) and the psychological well-being of our participants. In addition, as researchers, we would like to learn more about the factors that increase our participants' risk of using abuse images and their help-seeking behaviours. Another aim of this study is to develop an AI assistant for your therapists and an anonymised dialogue database, which will enable us to support more people. The main aim of our study is to prevent the spread of CSAM and to develop effective, tailored support services for people with a sexual interest in children that meet the needs of the participants.
The study involves a chat intervention accessible through our self-help and study platform, the Troubled Desire programme. Both therapists and participants remain anonymous throughout the process and both are strongly advised not to disclose any personal information at any point during their work together (instructions on how to protect your identity effectively can be found here). After the interested parties have agreed to participate, a short initial interview follows to clarify whether they can participate. In their personal area, participants make appointments with their therapists. A chat session lasts exactly 50 minutes and takes place exclusively via the platform at the pre-arranged appointments. In a period of 4 weeks, this is a total of 4 appointments and, if necessary, 2 further sessions are arranged. These can be suggested by the therapists. During this time and for 4, 8 and 12 weeks afterwards, the study participants are regularly invited to answer some questions in their personal login area. These questions relate to your CSAM behaviour, beliefs, experiences and general mood. All questions are answered anonymously.
The study is conducted by Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin (CUB) in Germany in collaboration with some partners. These are the International University of Catalonia (UIC) in Spain, the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD) in Portugal, the Technical University of Berlin (TUB) and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in the Czech Republic. All data is stored on CUB's secure servers without any personal reference. Both UIC and UTAD are responsible for analysing the data collected in the STOP-CSAM study. TUB will use the collected data to programme an AI assistant to support therapists with best therapeutic practice. Therefore, it is necessary to exchange the data end-to-end encrypted between Charité and its research partners.
Participation in the study is completely voluntary. Before you answer any of our questions, you will be presented with a consent form. As we ask you not to use your name at any point in the process, thus removing the possibility of a signature, we ask you to tick the box as a consent form. You can withdraw your consent to participate at any time without consequences for the duration of the study. If you decide not to participate in the study, you can do so without giving any reason and you can withdraw the information you have given if you wish. You have the right not to answer questions asked during the discussion or not to give more information than you are comfortable with. You are repeatedly reminded to remain anonymous and not to disclose any personal information when answering questions, communicating in the message centre or during your chat appointments with your therapists.
Your participation is important to the study as you will be using the TCS service we provide. Your contribution can help us evaluate and improve the intervention we have developed. You will be supported by our therapists to achieve wellbeing and healthy sexual behaviour. In addition, this intervention can be used to help others get the support they need in a free, anonymous and judgement-free virtual environment. Your participation can help prevent child sexual exploitation and reduce the spread of CSAM. There is no physical risk associated with participating in the study. However, it is possible that you may feel uncomfortable about certain issues.
There is no financial allowance for participation in the study.
This study was approved by the responsible ethics committee of the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin.
The implementation of the TCS intervention requires access to an electronic device (e.g. computer, tablet or smartphone) equipped with a web browser application (e.g. Firefox, Safari, Opera, Chrome, Edge, Tor browser or similar) and connected to the internet for both the therapists and the participant at a specific agreed ter-min. All data is encrypted end-to-end. The chat conversations are all conducted in text form. The chat transcripts will be stored in a secure database and used for the above research purposes and clinical documentation. The data collected will be anonymous and any potentially identifying personal data will be removed before further processing. The ano-nymous transcripts will be securely transferred to our partner researchers mentioned above (i.e. TUB, UTAD, UIC and NIMH) for further analysis and processing. For this purpose, TUB, UIC and UTAD will be given direct access to the database via two-factor authentication. The transcripts and translations will be kept on a password-protected drive for ten years with further access restriction. All data collected, including questionnaires, are kept separately. This ensures your anonymity with regard to the research results. Data processing is carried out in accordance with the applicable data protection laws, in particular the European Data Protection Regulation (DSGVO), the Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG) and the Berlin Data Protection Act (BlnDSG). All research data remains in the European Economic Area.
Your details will be handled with extreme care. Your personal data will be collected anonymously and stored securely. The results of the study will only be published for scientific purposes. No information will be published that allows conclusions to be drawn about your identity. All persons who have access to your documents are obliged to treat them confidentially and to comply with the applicable data protection regulations.
You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. You have the right to information, correction, deletion, restriction of processing, data portability and objection to the processing of your personal data. You can revoke your consent to the use and disclosure of your data at any time without incurring any disadvantages.
If you have any questions about the study or wish to exercise your rights, please contact the office responsible for data processing and study management in writing. Please use these contact details only for enquiries and do not share sensitive data by e-mail.
Institut für Sexualwissenschaft und Sexualmedizin
Direktor Prof. Dr. med. Dr. phil. Klaus M. Beier
Campus Charité Mitte
Charitéplatz 1
10117 Berlin
Telefon: +49 30 450 529 302
E-mail: stop-csam@charite.de
If you have any concerns regarding data processing and compliance with data protection
requirements, you can also contact the Data Protection Officer of the Charité
- University Medicine Berlin:
Data Protection Officer Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Charitéplatz 1
10117 Berlin
Telephone: +49 30 450 580016
E-mail: datenschutzbeauftragte@charite.de
In the event that you consider data processing to be unlawful, you have the option of filing a complaint with the supervisory authority responsible for Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin:
Berlin Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information
Alt-Moabit 59-61
10555 Berlin
Telefon: +49 30 13889-0
Fax: +49 30 2155050
E-Mail: mailbox@datenschutz-berlin.de
https://www.datenschutz-berlin.de Join now