Effectiveness of Multi-interventional Package on Knowledge Regarding Prevention of Child Molestation amongst Primary Schoolchildren

Abstract

Abstract Background: Child molestation is a form of child sexual abuse (CSA) that affects children all over the world. It has the potential to devastate a child’s life in every aspect of their normal growth and development and has become the larger field of interpersonal trauma studies, CSA studies and intervention strategies. The primary intervention for eliminating this societal scourge is the implementation of preventive methods. Objectives: The aim of the study was to develop a multi-interventional package for the prevention of child molestation. Methods: This randomised control trial was carried out on 200 primary schoolchildren (PS children) who were randomly assigned to experimental (n = 100) and control (n = 100) groups from selected schools in the Kozhikode district of Kerala, India. A demographic pro forma and a knowledge questionnaire were used for data collection. The package included a display of a role-play video entitled ‘Rooby’ and a cartoon book explanation called ‘Karyakkudukka,’ implemented by the primary researcher. The data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. On pre-test, the majority of participants from both the groups had a good level of knowledge regarding child molestation prevention. Results: After receiving the intervention, there was a significant difference in the level of knowledge about the prevention of child molestation amongst the experimental group of PS children (P = 0.0001) depicting the effectiveness of the multi-interventional package. Conclusion: The developed multi-interventional package looked upon potent strategies for the prevention of child molestation.