The effectiveness of a child and parent-oriented modular education program on the prevention of child sexual abuse knowledge and parental views: A mixed method study

Abstract

This study evaluates the effectiveness of a modular training program on the prevention of child sexual abuse (CSA) on the level of sexual abuse knowledge of children and their parents and the views of parents. The study was conducted in a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design. In the quantitative part of the research, a randomized quasi-experimental method with a pre-test/post-test, and a control group was used, and in the qualitative phase, the descriptive phenomenological method was used. The quantitative phase was conducted with 122 children and 122 parents: those who participated in the modular training (intervention group) and those who did not (control group). The qualitative part of the study was completed with 15 parents. The modular training program was applied by the researchers to the children in the intervention group and their parents in sessions on different days. Children and their parents were measured 4 times in total: pre-test before modular training, post-test after training, 15 days after training, and 1-month follow-up test. The sexual abuse knowledge levels of children who received modular training were higher than those who did not (post-test, follow-up 1, and follow-up 2). Post-test scores related to child abuse knowledge and attitude levels of parents were higher in the intervention group (21.45) than in the control group (10.37). Qualitative findings were grouped under three main themes: “CSA risk factors”, “insecurity”, and “prevention methods”. The training program is effective in increasing the knowledge of children and parents.