Annual-Report-2019

Dr Robert Courtois
CONSORTIUM COORDINATOR
SMART LOIRE VALLEY Programme
Robert Courtois (MD, PhD) (psychiatrist, associate professor of psychology / senior lecturer), project leader, head of
CRIAVS, Psychiatry-Addictology department, Tours University Hospital.
His research areas are psychopathological processes, individual vulnerabilities, risk and protective factors of the
behavior of adults reflecting difficulty adapting to change.
• Becoming an adult: risk behaviors, addictions, risky sexual behavior
• Interpersonal relationships: violence, sexual violence, domestic violence, harassment
• Life history, adverse environment, coping with illness: personality, resilience, psychological health and quality of life
ASSESSMENT OF RISK OF SEXUAL ASSAULT (ARSA): PSYCHOLOGICAL
ADJUSTMENT, NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL AND PSYCHIATRIC DETERMINANTS
The creation of this Le Studium Consortium ARSA (“Assessment of Risk of Sexual Assault: Psychological adjustment,
neuropsychological and psychiatric determinants”) aims to establish a multidisciplinary international research team of
psychologists, neuropsychologists, psychiatrists and criminologists.
We decided to explore a new way to better understand and explain sexual violence that consists of describing risk factors
for coercive sexual relations (including all inappropriate or unwanted relationships) by using a dimensional approach
based on the Research Domain Criteria (RDoc) created by the American ‘National Institute of Mental Health’ (NIMH).
This is a research framework for new approaches to investigating mental disorders. It aims to integrate many levels of
information (from genomics and circuits to behavior and self-reports) in order to explore basic dimensions of functioning
that span the full range of human behavior (from normal to pathological).
Human & Social Sciences 2019
Improving the prevention of sex offending requires multidisciplinary and comprehensive studies (from the general
population to sexual offenders). To meet this aim, we are planning to respond to both national and European (or
international) calls for proposals next year.
We believe that these researches could provide the basis for awareness raising and training of professionals, for
disseminating information to the general public, and for improving risk assessment and prevention of sexual violence.
We responded to the French National Research Agency (ANR) request for proposal (AAPG 2020). After succeeding in
the first step, we are now competing for the final selection. Our project is titled “From fantasies to problematic sexual
behavior and sexual violence in youth aged 18 to 25” (acronym FRIDA). The FRIDA project team includes all members
of the Studium consortium ARSA and two medical research units of Tours University Hospital: INSERM U 1253 iBrain
(Imagery and Brain) and INSERM CIC-P 1415 (clinical investigation center).
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