Helping children to the other side of silence: A study of the impact of the Stay Safe Programme on Irish children's disclosures of sexual victimization

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a school based safety skills program-The Stay Safe Programme-in facilitating the disclosu re of sexual abuse among sexually victimized children and adolescents in Du blin. Method: A cohort of 145 children who had participated in the Stay Safe Prog ramme prior to their referral to a sexual abuse assessment unit were compar ed with a cohort of 443 children who had not participated in the prevention program on a range of disclosure related variables abstracted from case no tes. Results: More Stay Safe participants, particularly female adolescents, made disclosures of suspected sexual abuse than non-participants. A higher rate of initial disclosure to teachers was made by Stay Safe participants and m ore teachers in schools participating in the Stay Safe Programme initiated referrals for evaluation of suspected child sexual abuse. Following assessm ent a higher rate of confirmed abuse occurred among Stay Safe participants and for these confirmed cases more Stay Safe participants made purposeful d isclosures and in significantly more cases referral was due to the child te lling someone about the abuse. These differences in disclosure between prog ram participants and non-participants were unrelated to demographic factors or characteristics of the abuse. Conclusions: The Stay Safe Programme was an effective secondary prevention intervention deserving widespread implementation. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd.