Proximate effects of a child sexual abuse prevention program in elementaryschool children

Objective: The effects of the sexual child abuse prevention program ESPACE were evaluated by means of a Solomon-type design with first and third grade children. ESPACE is an adaptation of the American Child Assault Prevention Program (CA-P). Possible side effects of the program were also examined. Method: A total of 133 children (64 first-graders and 69 third-graders) par ticipated in the study. Children completed a knowledge questionnaire and a video vignette measure designed to evaluate preventive skills towards abusi ve and potentially abusive situations. A follow-up measure (2 months) was a dministered to verify whether knowledge and skills were maintained. Results: Results indicated that children participating in the prevention pr ogram showed greater preventive knowledge and skills relative to children n ot participating. Follow-up data showed that knowledge gains were maintaine d while the preventive skill gains may attenuate. However, while global ski ll scores decreased between post-test and follow-up, children still showed greater preventive skills at follow-up than before the program. In terms of unanticipated side effects, results revealed that almost half of the paren ts noted positive reactions following children's participation in the ESPAC E program. Furthermore, the majority of parents did not identify negative r eactions in their children following their participation in the workshop. Conclusion: The findings suggest that the Quebec adaptation of the CAP prog ram was effective in training children in abuse prevention concepts and ski lls. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.