Parental Involvement in Programs to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse: A Systematic Review of Four Decades of Research.

This systematic review is the first to synthesize knowledge of parental involvement in child sexual abuse (CSA) prevention programs. Guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) criteria, 24 intervention evaluations met the inclusion criteria of aiming to change parental knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, behavioral intentions, self-efficacy, response-efficacy, or capabilities for prevention of CSA. Included papers were identified via a combination of electronic database searches (PsycINFO, Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar, Cochrane Library, World Health Organization's International Clinical Trials Registry Platform, google.com.au, open.grey.eu, Global ETD, Open Access Theses & Dissertations, EThOS, and Trove) and direct communication with researchers. Improvement post intervention was found most commonly for parental behavioral intentions and response-efficacy, closely followed by parental behaviors, then capabilities, self-efficacy, knowledge, and lastly, parental attitudes. Improvements in behaviors, intentions, and response-efficacy occurred in 88 to 100% of the studies in which they were addressed, improvements in self-efficacy and capabilities occurred in 67 to 75%, and improvements in knowledge and attitudes occurred in only 50 to 56%. Many of the included evaluation studies suffered from methodological and reporting flaws, such as high participant attrition, lack of control group, lack of statistical tests, missed testing time points, and a lack of (or short) follow-up. Future parent-focused CSA prevention evaluations must address these concerns by conducting rigorous empirical research with sound methodologies and comprehensive reporting. Furthermore, study designs should consider measuring the real-world impact of increases in assessed parent variables, including their ability to prevent sexual victimization of children.

Parental-Led Sexual Abuse Education Amongst At-Risk Parents: Associations with Parenting Practices, and Parent and Child Symptomology.

Considering the emphasis on parent-led sexual abuse education (PLSAE) in child sexual abuse (CSA) prevention, and the imperative of prevention in families living with demonstrated risk factors, it is important to understand the extent to which this group delivers PLSAE to their children, whether this is associated with any barriers or facilitators, whether parents are engaging in other protective behaviors (such as monitoring and involvement) and the relationship between these variables and other risk factors such as parent and child symptomology. We surveyed 117 parents, with children ranging in age from 25-89 months (67% boys), attending a parenting program for assistance with a range of parenting difficulties and child behavior problems from 2020-22. A large majority of parents reported not giving their children comprehensive prevention messages, discussing body integrity and abduction dangers to a greater extent. PLSAE was significantly positively associated with child internalizing and externalizing symptoms; parent and child age; and discussion of body integrity and abduction. However, PLSAE was not associated with any other measured variables (protective parenting; CSA knowledge; parenting self-efficacy; general and own-child risk appraisal; parent burnout, stress, depression or anxiety; child diagnosis; parental education level; employment or marital status; or income). The current findings suggest that investing resources into increasing parental knowledge, risk perception and confidence may be misguided. Future endeavors should consider helping parents be protective in other ways, for example, through the creation of safe environments and reducing the risks of CSA.