The assessment of a school-based intervention for the prevention of child sexual abuse

• Main Author: Alexander, Anthony Daniel
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 1998
• Subjects: Newfoundland
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1807/16457; http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape11/PQDD_0010/NQ58647.pdf

grantor: University of Toronto Schools across the nation have invested heavily into delivering Child Sexual Abuse Prevention (CSAP) Programs to literally millions of children. One such program, the Child Abuse Research and Education (C.A.R.E.) program, has gained acceptance in most Newfoundland schools. The benefits of this program have not been firmly established. Whether children should receive short term or longer term exposure to the programs is unclear; nor has it been established that the C.A.R.E. program is more able to equip children with primary prevention versus secondary prevention skills. A growing list of critics question whether there is any real benefit to these programs and indeed, whether they may be causing any undue harm. Two groups of children receiving either a shorter or longer term CSAP (C.A.R.E.) intervention were matched for similarity on several socio-economic and educational variables. After program completion the groups were compared on rates of knowledge of CSAP concepts, prevention skills acquisition, and disclosure rates of abuse. Results indicated no significant differences were found between the two groups respective to the level of knowledge of CSAP concepts or prevention skills. A trend (not quite significant) was found toward more disclosures of abuse from the group of children who had received a longer term CSAP program. An unexpected finding was that of a group of remedial students showing a significantly reduced rate of knowledge and skill acquisition, regardless of the length of CSAP program received. Furthermore, this same group showed a significant overgeneralization of protective strategies to previously coded safe scenarios. Future directions and recommendations for program usage are provided based on the results of these findings. Ed.D.