NCJ Number
140488
Journal
Child Abuse and Neglect Volume: 165 Issue: 6 Dated: (November-December 1992) Pages: 865-876
Date Published
1992
Length
12 pages
Annotation
A sample of 172 Head Start preschool children were assigned to a personal safety program taught by their teachers, parents, or both teachers and parents, or to a general safety control program. Data were collected to evaluate the relative effectiveness of parents and teachers as instructors in sexual abuse prevention programs.
Abstract
Children taught the personal safety program by the three experimental groups exhibited greater knowledge of sexual abuse and personal safety skills immediately after program completion and at a 5-month followup interview than the control group. Children taught by their parents at home showed greater improvements in recognizing inappropriate touch requests and in personal safety skills compared to the group who received instruction only from their teachers. The home- based program had the advantages of small group instruction, individual tutoring, and longer amounts of time spent in instruction by parents compared to teachers. According to teacher reports, there were no significant between-group differences in the frequency of problem behaviors indicative of emotional distress that might have been caused by learning at home. Both parents and children found the at home instruction a positive experience. 2 tables and 30 references