Abstract
The study reports a group-randomized trial of a theatre-based intervention to prevent sexual abuse targeting first and second grade primary school children in Germany. A sample of 148 first and second graders saw a live performance of a play designed to promote skills in dealing with abuse-prone interactions with adults, watched a recording of the play on DVD or were assigned to a no intervention control group. Both the live performance and the DVD groups showed significant increases in the target variables (distinguishing good/bad touch and secrets, getting help, rejecting unwanted touch) from baseline to post-intervention and a follow-up after 2 weeks, while the control group did not show changes. The live performance and DVD groups participated in a further follow-up 30 weeks post-intervention, which showed sustained effects of the intervention. The findings indicate that with appropriately culture-sensitive measures, sexual abuse prevention programmes can have sustainable effects with young primary school children.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 321-329 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology |
Volume | 19 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Jul 2009 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Child sexual abuse
- Evaluation
- Prevention
- Primary school children
- Theatre play