Preventing Child Sexual Abuse: Research Inconclusive About Effectiveness of Child Education Programs

• NCJ Number: 166136
• Author(s): E L Rezmovic; D Alexander; D Sloane; B Seltser; T Jessor
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 22 pages
• Corporate Author: US Government Accountability Office
• Sale Source: Azimuth Inc.; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Recognizing that the problem of child sexual abuse has received increasing attention in recent years, the General Accounting Office (GAO) identified 16 reviews that provided quantitative or qualitative summaries of research on education programs designed to prevent child sexual abuse.

Abstract

Information was collected from 16 research reviews issued between 1986 and 1996 that covered approximately 135 studies of education programs designed to help children prevent sexual abuse. The reviews did not produce direct evidence that education programs were effective in preventing child sexual abuse. The reviews focused on whether children could acquire knowledge about sexual abuse and learn skills that might prove useful in an abusive situation, as well as whether programs prompted victimized children to disclose ongoing or past abuse. Although the reviews showed that children could learn concepts about abuse, it was clear that some concepts were more difficult to grasp than others. For example, children had a difficult time understanding the concept that abuse could be perpetrated by a family member. There was less consensus about whether children retained knowledge over the long term, whether children could learn skills for resisting abuse, and whether children would disclose new instances of abuse after program participation. The reviews generally agreed that programs were more effective in teaching concepts to older children and that concepts and skills could be grasped better when taught with active participation (modeling and role playing) instead of more passive methods (films and lectures). Most reviews reported that methodological research limitations precluded conclusions about the effectiveness of education programs in preventing child sexual abuse. In particular, a majority of reviews noted that outcome measures used in evaluation studies were not valid indicators of prevention, and all reviews identified design weaknesses. Appendixes contain additional information on the scope and methodology of the GAO study, a list of experts consulted, and a list of research reviews. 15 footnotes