Teaching Sexual Abuse Prevention Skills to Children

This chapter summarizes the research on sexual abuse prevention-training programs and other safety skills training programs for children. Different approaches to assessment of sexual abuse prevention skills and other child safety skills are discussed with an emphasis on in situ assessment as the only valid form of assessment. Research on informational approaches and active learning approaches to training sexual abuse prevention and other safety skills is reviewed. Conclusions that can be drawn from the research are that: (1) there is no adequate evidence for the effectiveness of sexual abuse prevention training programs due to researchers’ reliance on verbal report assessment; and (2) evidence from teaching other safety skills shows that behavioral skills training (BST) and in situ training (IST) are the most effective procedures. Research on sexual abuse prevention programs needs to evaluate BST and IST procedures using in situ assessments to identify the procedures that are effective.