Sexual Abuse Prevention Programs for Children

Awareness of the problem of sexual abuse in US society has increased dramatically in the last decade, as has the number of sexual abuse prevention programs designed to teach children to protect themselves from sexual assault. Reviewed here are efforts to prevent sexual abuse of children within the classroom, where such programs compete with other programs for the children's & teacher's time. The nature of child sexual abuse, including prevalance risk factors & offender characteristics, is presented & implications for prevention are discussed. Evaluations of child sexual abuse prevention programs are reviewed, & program effectiveness is discussed in terms of knowledge gains, children's abilities to discriminate touch, & skills acquisition. Implications & feasibility of using the school setting to address social problems & enhance mental health are explored. 57 References. AA