Educating Children About Sexual Abuse: Implications for Pediatric Intervention and Possible Prevention1

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Abstract
This study evaluated the effectiveness of a commercially produced film, =Touch= (Illusion Theater Co. & Media Ventures, Inc., 1984), designed to teach children self-protection skills in an effort to prevent sexual abuse. Sixty-seven children from four grades (kindergarten, 1st, 5 th, and 6th) were assigned randomly to either a treatment or control group. Measures included a paper-and-pencil questionnaire to assess children's knowledge about sexual abuse and individual interviews designed to elicit self-report of verbal and behavioral responses to potentially abusive encounters. No support for a sensitizing effect of pretesting was found. Children who viewed the film demonstrated significantly greater knowledge about sexual abuse and enhanced personal safety skills when compared to controls, and older children achieved higher scores on both assessments compared to younger children. These gains were maintained at the 3-month follow-up assessment.

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