Efficacy of Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Programmes: A Review of Research Studies

Abstract

Reports of the diminished incidence of child sexual abuse (CSA) in North America have
been partially explained by the proliferation of CSA prevention programmes. While the
extant data demonstrates the efficacy of prevention programmes in enhancing CSA
knowledge and protective skills, research findings have not established a causal link
between prevention curriculum and a reduction in the occurrence of CSA. As a result,
clinicians and researchers alike have made pre-emptive conclusions regarding the rela-
tive utility of the voluminous body of evidence on the efficacy of CSA prevention cur-
riculum. This review is not intended to identify the prevention programme most likely
to result in diminished CSA, but will evaluate the utility of widely utilised prevention
curricula using the evaluation framework articulated by the National Center for Missing
and Exploited Children and the Center for Disease Control as a benchmark