Cochrane: Children who are taught about preventing sexual abuse at school are
more likely than others to tell an adult if they had, or were actually
experiencing sexual abuse. This is according to the results of a new Cochrane Review
published in the Cochrane Library 16 April 2015. However, the review's
authors say that more research is needed to establish whether
school-based programmes intended to prevent sexual abuse actually reduce
the incidence of abuse.
It is estimated that, worldwide, at least
1 in 10 girls and 1 in 20 boys experience some form of sexual abuse in
childhood. Those who are sexually abused as children are more
susceptible to depression, eating disorders, suicidal behaviour, and
drug and alcohol problems later in life, and are more likely to become
victims of sexual assault as adults. In many countries, children are
taught how to recognize, react to, and report abuse situations through
school-based programmes designed to help prevent sexual abuse.
The
Cochrane researchers reviewed data from 24 trials in which a total of
5,802 children took part in school-based prevention programmes in the
US, Canada, China, Germany, Spain, Taiwan, and Turkey. Schools involved
in the trials used a variety of methods to teach children about sexual
abuse, including teaching of safety rules, body ownership, and who to
tell through films, plays, songs, puppets, books, and games. In children
who did not receive the intervention, around 4 in 1,000 children
disclosed some form of sexual abuse. This contrasts with 14 in 1,000
children in the intervention groups, who disclosed some form of sexual
abuse.
Studies also suggested that programmes were effective in
increasing children's knowledge about sexual abuse. Four trials assessed
children's knowledge again up to six months after, and showed that they
remembered much of what they were taught. Children who participated in
programmes were also more likely than other children to try to protect
themselves in a simulated abuse scenario in which they were asked to
leave the school and go with someone they did not know.
The
researchers suggest that there are many reasons why it is difficult to
prove that children have learned the skills considered necessary for
recognizing and reporting sexual abuse. "Even if a child demonstrates
that they know how to behave in a certain scenario, it doesn't mean they
will behave the same in a real situation where there is potential for
abuse," said lead author Kerryann Walsh of the Faculty of Education at
Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. "Tests
cannot mimic real abuse situations very well. For example, we know that
most sexual abuse is perpetrated by someone known to the child whereas
in the test situations, unfamiliar actors or research assistants were
used.”
There was little evidence to show that children experienced
unnecessary worry as a result of sexual abuse prevention education, nor
were there any other reported adverse effects.
"This review
supports the need to inform and protect children against sexual abuse,"
said Walsh. "But ongoing research is needed to evaluate school-based
prevention programmes, and to investigate the links between
participation and the actual prevention of child sexual abuse. To really
know whether these programmes are working, we need to see larger
studies with follow-up all the way to adulthood."