Changing the classroom climate to lower the threshold for child abuse and neglect self-disclosure: A non-randomized cluster controlled trial

•Children can recognize child abuse significantly more frequently by an intervention.•To change a 'culture of silence' about child maltreatment is a possibility.•App. 50% did not know whether other children perceived CAN as something you can talk about.•The social norm about talking about child abuse mediates talking about child abuse.•This study is a first step getting grip on the modifiability of a disclosure climate. In view of the serious consequences of chronic child abuse and neglect (CAN), facilitating children’s self-disclosure is important, as the self-disclosure may stop the abuse and initiate emotional support. This study examined whether self-disclosure of CAN, specifically recognizing CAN and being able to talk about it (referred to here as talkability), improved by a classroom-based intervention to tackle CAN. A total of 757 children aged 10-12 years and 53 teachers from Dutch primary schools participated both at pretest and posttest. The intervention consisted of an educational program comprising four lessons on CAN, using various methods including videos and group discussions. This study used a quasi-experimental design (i.e., non-randomized cluster-controlled trial) to test the effects of the intervention (pre-/posttest). Children’s recognition of CAN was assessed using vignettes on physical abuse, emotional abuse and neglect. Talkability was assessed by children’s self-reports. Multilevel logistic regression was used to test whether the intervention improved recognition and talkability. In addition, we tested whether these outcomes were moderated and mediated by social background, child and teacher characteristics. Compared to children in the control condition, those in the intervention condition reported significantly higher percentages of CAN recognition and talking about CAN outside school hours. This study shows that participating in a series of lessons about CAN is effective in increasing both recognition and talkability of CAN in primary school children of predominantly low-educated parents. This study supports the social ecology perspective that disclosure might be viewed as a person-in-environment interaction.