NCJ Number
136752
Journal
Children and Society Volume: 4 Issue: 4 Dated: (Winter 1990) Pages: 401-419
Date Published
1990
Length
19 pages
Annotation
Three one-day workshops were held to introduce a new Operational Policy on Child Sexual Abuse to 40 senior clinical staff of the Pontefract Health District Health Care Planning Group (Yorkshire, England). The workshops were designed to increase awareness of personal and professional issues relating to child sexual abuse, to evaluate and increase knowledge of the psychological consequences of child sexual abuse, and to prepare participants to "cascade" information about child sexual abuse and new policies to their staff.
Abstract
The workshops were run by two clinical psychologists, a specialist in community medicine and a development officer from social services. Participants used role playing, small discussion groups, and presentations to cover the issues including sexual attitudes, disclosure, and the organization of cascade teaching sessions. Two multiple choice questionnaires were used to evaluate the workshop; the responses showed that participants' knowledge of child sexual abuse, which was good before their participation, did improve as a result of the workshops. They also felt ready to pass on their knowledge through the cascade system in which information flows from higher structures within an organization down to a larger number of people working in that organization. An evaluation of the cascade teaching sessions showed there were some improvements in knowledge about child sexual abuse among staff who attended. 5 tables, 1 appendix, and 2 references