Data for: Adapting a Selective Parent-Focused Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Curriculum for a Universal Audience: A Pilot Study

<h3> Project Overview </h3>
<p> Parents are an obvious, but underutilized player in the prevention of child sexual abuse (CSA). A handful of universal prevention programs have emerged, however, the evidence for these programs is mixed and the programs suffer ubiquitously from barriers to implementation (e.g., poor engagement, low participation) thereby limiting public health impact. To combat these barriers and improve evidence, researchers previously developed and tested a selective parent-focused CSA prevention program. While promising, the selective approach still leaves a gap in the prevention landscape – parents from the universal audience. However, there appear to be no standardized methods to inform this type of adaptation — interventions designed as universal or selective have primarily been delivered as such. </p>
<p> This study sought to adapt the selective curriculum for a universal audience and examined the acceptability and feasibility of the program for evaluation in a future trial. Smart Parents - Safe and Healthy Kids (SPSHK), informed by social cognitive theory, uses role-play scenarios to emphasize skills related to healthy child sexual development, parent-child communication about sex and sexual abuse, and child safety strategies to protect them from victimization (i.e., vetting babysitters, monitoring activities inside and outside of the home, as well as online). </p>
<p> SPSHK comprises three segments: (1) healthy child sexual development; (2) parent-child communication; and (3) child safety. Each segment is described in a handbook and is divided into age groups, so parents can easily access the most relevant information for their child’s age and developmental range (i.e., 0-2, 2-5, 6-9, 9-12, 13+). In the “Healthy Sexual Development” segment, parents review typical sexual developmental milestones, behaviors that are atypical and may indicate something abusive or harmful has occurred, and the importance of teaching children anatomical labels for body parts (e.g., vagina, penis, breasts). In the “Parent-Child Communication” segment, parents learn why, when, and where to promote open, accurate, and consistent communication about sexual topics. In the “Child Safety” segment, the parent learns the importance of and how to monitor their child’s activities inside and outside of the home, as well as online. Parents create a safety plan so that their child knows what to do if they are feeling unsafe or if something has happened to them. This segment also reviews the behavioral, emotional, and physical signs of CSA. Parents learn how to react to a disclosure or if they suspect abuse has occurred. </p>
<p> SPSHK was uniquely designed to be added to existing parent education (PE) programs (e.g., Parents at Teachers, SafeCare, or Incredible Years) as parents who are enrolled in PE, potentially as a result of involvement in the child protective service system, are at increased risk for subsequent child maltreatment, including CSA. In the adaptation process, it was imperative that we retained qualities of SPSHK that set it apart from other programs: delivery in a single session, use of role play to practice taught skills following principles of social cognitive theory, and provision of materials to the parent that spanned child developmental periods through age 13. </p>
<p> The purpose of the current study was to identify any necessary modifications to the content of the curriculum and to ascertain whether parents from the general community (rather than referred through a PE program) would have enough foundational knowledge to be successful in the Smarter Parents. Safer Kids. program. </p>
<p> We piloted modifications to the curriculum to foster group rapport and the online delivery system, including online data collection. Using a pre-/post-test design, we examined the preliminary efficacy of Smarter Parents. Safer Kids. delivered in increasing parents’ CSA-related awareness and intention to use protective behaviors. Following an educational workshop, we conducted brief interviews with parents to learn about the acceptability and feasibility of the curriculum delivered in a group setting and online. If acceptable and feasible, the eventual addition of an evidence-based universal parent-focused CSA prevention program to child- and community-based CSA prevention efforts holds promise for affecting rates of CSA prevalence. </p>
<p> Overall participants’ mean score on CSA-related awareness and intention to use protective behavioral strategies increased. The participants found the curriculum highly acceptable noting strengths in the content and design. All told, the results of this pilot study suggest the acceptability and feasibility of examining the efficacy of the universal parent focused curriculum in a larger trial. Procedural challenges, such as bots in recruitment, identify areas of caution in design of the larger trial and a roadmap for others seeking to adapt selective programs for universal audiences. </p>