Efficacy of a Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Program for Turkish Second-Grade Primary School Children
Hacettepe Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, vol.41, no.1, pp.236-249, 2026 (Scopus, TRDizin)
- Publication Type: Article / Article
- Volume: 41 Issue: 1
- Publication Date: 2026
- Doi Number: 10.16986/hunefd.1754316
- Journal Name: Hacettepe Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi
- Journal Indexes: Scopus, MLA - Modern Language Association Database, TR DİZİN (ULAKBİM)
- Page Numbers: pp.236-249
- Keywords: Child sexual abuse, prevention, school-based program, primary school
- Dokuz Eylül University Affiliated: Yes
Abstract
School-based prevention programs may play a crucial role in protecting children against child sexual abuse. However, only a few prevention programs have been implemented for primary school children in Türkiye so far. Ultimately, we aimed to develop a child sexual abuse prevention program and explore its efficacy using a pretest-posttest comparison group design. We carried out the study with 104 second graders aged 6-8 years (Mage = 6.99, SD = 0.49). Using a quasi-experimental design with comparison group, children’s classrooms were randomly assigned to either the intervention group (n = 66) or the wait-list comparison group (n = 38). All the children were recruited to a pretest and a posttest using the Child Sexual Abuse Knowledge Form, the Self-Protection Skill Form, and the Good Touch-Bad Touch Test. The students in the intervention group participated in the 4-hour child sexual abuse prevention program. To investigate effectiveness of the program on children’s knowledge levels, we used the three-state latent Markov model with (SABIC = 2067.7511, AIC = 2091.4234) and without (SABIC = 2075.4711, AIC = 2095.0264) intervention and wait-list comparison groups as a covariate variable. This result implied that the program was effective for the children in the intervention group since the transition probabilities between the intervention and wait-list comparison groups were significantly different. The findings revealed that the children in the intervention group demonstrated significant improvements in knowledge. Their self-protection skills (number of responses, effective strategies, diversity of response) also showed significant improvements. (respectively (F(1, 101)= 4.280, p <.05, η2= .04, F(1, 101)= 4.539, p <.05, η2= .04, F(1, 101)= 10.029, p <.05, η2= .09). Hence, we can confidently highlight the importance of the prevention program for second graders, and the child sexual abuse prevention program can be utilized as a primary prevention program in Turkish primary schools.