CCOSO Research Committee

The purpose of the CCOSO Research Committee is to:

  • Review proposals for the annual CCOSO research award, and recommend recipients to the Board.
  • Encourage and support research use and endeavors in the area of sexual offending, particularly by members of CCOSO. Facilitate statewide research projects.

CCOSO RESEARCH AWARD

The CCOSO Research Committee will annually have two awards for completed research. They are for:

Student - For student and dissertation research.

Professional - For professionals in practice.

Honorable mention awards in each category may also be given for additional submissions of merit.

Submission abstracts will be by February 1st yearly to the CCOSO Research Committee Chair: L.C. Miccio-Fonseca, Ph.D.

Research Award Guidelines:

Criteria for proposals are:

  1. Applicants must be active CCOSO members in good standing.
  2. The proposed research will address an important aspect of sexual offending.
  3. Preference will be given to scientific research that is data driven rather than theoretical or conceptual papers.
  4. Applicants must submit a research abstract.  The abstract should include the problem addressed, methods used, findings, and conclusions.
  5. The Research Committee will review all proposals, select the proposals they believe have the most merit, and forward the award to the Board for notification. The Research Committee will notify the recipients.
  6. The recipients and abstracts will be posted on the CCOSO Research Committee website and at be part of the poster sessions for the CCOSO annual conference. The abstracts will be submitted to the CCOSO Perspectives Newsletter.

PRINCIPLES FOR RESEARCH BASED PRACTICE

The following principles for research based practice were adopted by the Committee:

Principle One

CCOSO members will strive towards evidence-based practice, both with regard to assessment and treatment where adequate research exists. Where authoritative evidence-based research does not exist, members will strive to use "best practices" that incorporate generally recognized standards and methods of care, suitable to their particular setting and client needs.

Principle Two

Assessment and treatment should use approaches with the "best" research basis. For example, the state of California, regarding treatment of work comp clients, uses systematic criteria regarding rating the evidence basis for interventions similar to those described below. The strength of research of practice methods can be categorized as follows:

  1. Well-Supported by Research Evidence     - Research which has multiple replications with positive findings done in different settings.           
  2. Supported by Research Evidence - Research which has some positive findings, but not multiple replications.
  3. Promising Research Evidence- Only one or a few predominately positive outcomes, or preliminary research only.
  4. Emergent - No controlled research, but past clinical practice suggests approach would be helpful.
  5. Proposed - No research or clinical experience, but reasonable clinical judgment would suggest benefits.   
  6. Other - Policy, theory, ethical, administrative, experiential, role playing, clinical supervision, or other areas, etc., where research standards are not appropriate or relevant.                 

Principle Three

A. When we are treating clients, we are ethically obligated in our informed consents to give the client information regarding the level of evidence that the intervention will be helpful and how it will be helpful.

B. CCOSO conferences should identify presentations according to the above criteria. Some methods have multiple replications, while others are emergent without a research basis, and each should be identified as such. The purpose would not be to limit presentations on their research basis, but indicate the type of evidence available.