Research and Results
Research Findings
Parents Trained in Prevention More Likely to Communicate With Their Children About Child Sexual Abuse
Burgess, E. S., & Wurtele, S. K. (1998). Enhancing parent-child communication about sexual abuse: A pilot study. Child Abuse and Neglect, 22(11), 1167–1175.
The What Do I Say Now? family video was evaluated as part of a one-hour child sexual abuse (CSA) prevention workshop. Forty-five parents with children ages two to six were randomly assigned to either the CSA or a home-safety workshop (control group). A post-test survey was given to parents assessing beliefs related to CSA, and telephone interviews regarding parent-child communication about CSA were conducted two to eight weeks later. Parents attending the CSA workshop were more likely than control parents to believe child education could be effective in preventing abuse. CSA-group parents also reported significantly greater communications with their children about CSA at follow-up. Results offer early support that the What Do I Say Now? video can increase parent-child communication about this important topic.
Elementary Students Show Gains in Personal Safety Knowledge
Madak, P. R., & Berg, D. H. (1992). The prevention of sexual abuse: An evaluation of "TALKING ABOUT TOUCHING." Canadian Journal of Counseling, 26(1), 29–40.
An evaluation of the TALKING ABOUT TOUCHING program was conducted in five urban elementary schools in midwestern Canada. Student knowledge gain was evaluated using pre/post knowledge tests (n = 883 in second through sixth grades) and brief interviews (n = 37 in kindergarten through first grade). T-tests indicated significant gains in personal safety knowledge for second through sixth grades. Similar improvements were shown for kindergarten through first-grade students through descriptive analysis. Parent surveys following implementation revealed considerable support for the program with little negative feedback. Teachers reported that TALKING ABOUT TOUCHING training offered useful information, and they indicated overwhelming endorsement of the program.
Elementary Students Show Improvement in Safety-Skills Practice
Sylvester, L. (1997). TALKING ABOUT TOUCHING: A Personal Safety Curriculum (1996 editions) preschool to grade 3 curriculum evaluation summary. Seattle, WA: Committee for Children.
The TALKING ABOUT TOUCHING curriculum was evaluated using pre- and post-interviews with students receiving the program. The interviews included questions regarding specific safety skills presented in the program and assessed both comprehension and skills. Scores from the interviews showed a statistically significant improvement in the knowledge and application of the safety skills taught in the curriculum.
Positive Effects of Personal Safety Programs
Research shows that preschool and elementary-age children can learn personal safety concepts and skills (Wurtele, Marrs, & Miller-Perrin, 1987; Finkelhor & Strapko, 1992). The most effective programs teach skills over multiple sessions, provide opportunities to practice the skills, and include parental involvement (Davis & Gidycz, 2000; Finkelhor, Asdigian, & Dziuba-Leatherman, 1995).
- Increased knowledge and skills. Children who participate in these kinds of programs show significant improvement in prevention-related knowledge and skills, with those in preschool and early elementary school showing the greatest gains (Davis & Gidycz, 2000).
- Increased reporting. Teaching young children to tell an adult when a situation confuses them or makes them uncomfortable may be a powerful strategy to promote child safety (Daro, 1994). Research indicates that before receiving a personal safety curriculum, few preschool and school-aged children thought they should report secret touching. After receiving the program, however, children reported they were more willing to tell (Wurtele & Sarno, 1996).
No Evidence of Negative Effects
Overall, studies do not support the view that personal safety instruction has unintended negative outcomes.
- No misinterpretation or false accusations. Research shows that program participants do not subsequently misinterpret nurturing touches or make false accusations of abusive touching or behavior (Wurtele, Kast, Miller-Perrin, & Kondrick, 1989).
- Skill use despite some worry. Some children report a slight increase in worry and fear after exposure to personal safety training. However, the children and parents who report higher levels of fear and worry are also those who report the most positive feelings about the program and the highest skill use (Finkelhor & Dziuba-Leatherman, 1995).
References
Daro, D. A. (1994). Prevention of child sexual abuse. The Future of Children, 42(2), 198–223.
Davis, M. K., & Gidycz, C. A. (2000). Child sexual abuse prevention programs: A meta-analysis. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 29(2), 257–265.
Finkelhor, D., Asdigian, N., & Dziuba-Leatherman, J. (1995). The effectiveness of victimization prevention instruction: An evaluation of children's responses to actual threats and assaults. Child Abuse and Neglect, 19, 141–153.
Finkelhor, D., & Dziuba-Leatherman, J. (1995). Victimization prevention programs: A national survey of children's exposure and reactions. Child Abuse and Neglect, 19, 129-139.
Finkelhor, D., & Strapko, N. (1992). Sexual abuse prevention education: A review of evaluation studies in child abuse prevention. In D. J. Willis, E. W. Holden, and M. Rosenberg (Eds.), Child Abuse Prevention. New York: Wiley.
Wurtele, S. K., Kast, L., Miller-Perrin, C. L., & Kondrick, P. (1989). A comparison of programs for teaching personal safety skills to preschoolers. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 57, 505–511.
Wurtele, S. K., Marrs, S. R., & Miller-Perrin, C. L. (1987). Practice makes perfect? The role of participant modeling in sexual abuse prevention programs. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 55, 599–602.
Wurtele, S. K., & Sarno, J. A. (1997). Teaching personal safety skills to younger children: An investigation of age and gender across five studies. Child Abuse and Neglect, 21, 805–814.