Impact of a schoolbased sexual abuse prevention education program on knowledge and skills among rural children / 中国学校卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective@#This study was designed to evaluate the impact of a schoolbased child sexual abuse (CSA) prevention education on knowledge and skills of schoolaged children in a rural area of China, and to provide a reference for conducting CSA prevention program in the rural area in the future.@*Methods@#Three hundred and sixtyfive schoolage children, recruited from grade 2-5 in 2 rural schools of northeast China, were assigned to a CSA prevention education group or a control group by class. CSA prevention education was implemented by school teachers. Questionnaire surveys were conducted before and after the intervention. To evaluate intervention impact on students’ knowledge and skills, ttest was used to compare scores increment in knowledge and skills between intervention group and the control group.@*Results@#The findings showed that scores in CSA prevention knowledge and skills among children in both groups was significantly improved after intervention. The increment of knowledge and skill scores in intervention group was 3.49 and 1.99, respectively, significantly higher than that of control group(1.05 and 1.11).@*Conclusion@#The present study shows that school CSA prevention education is helpful to improve children’s knowledge and skills of personal safety in the rural area. Schoolbased CSA prevention education methods and evaluation methods needs to be further improved.