Child sexual abuse prevention programs: Evaluating who do you tell

Abstract

Objective: The research evaluated a sexual abuse prevention program for elementary school-aged children. Although other evaluations of similar programs have demonstrated significant improvements in knowledge and skills, a number of key questions with respect to their efficacy remain. Method: 231 children were randomly assigned (matched by age) to participate in the program ( N = 117) or in a wait-list control condition ( N = 114). Knowledge of abuse prevention concepts were tested using the 33-item Children's Knowledge of Abuse Questionnaire-Revised (CKAQ-R), a standardized measure with strong psychometric properties (Tutty, 1995), with a new subscale on Appropriate Touch. Results: An analysis of covariance showed that children who received the program increased their knowledge levels of both Inappropriate Touch ( p = .000) and Appropriate Touch ( p = .012) to a significantly greater degree than children in the control group. Age also significantly differentiated the knowledge levels regarding Inappropriate Touch, with younger children knowing fewer concepts both at pretest and posttest ( p = .000). Parallel results apply to the Appropriate Touch subscale ( p = .04). Conclusions: The results are consistent with other evaluations of child sexual abuse prevention programs, however the statistically significant though small gains suggest that the programs need to be presented in a more powerful manner.