Evaluation of a clarification program about child sexual abuse for parents and guardians

Abstract

This study describes the evaluation by participants of an extension project, aimed at the orientation of parents of students in the 1st Stage of Elementary Education of 24 teaching units in the city and state of Rio de Janeiro for prevention and combat of Child Sexual Abuse (CSA). The project took place from March to November 2015. A total of 646 parents or guardians took part in the program. After presenting an instructional video, the concepts and characterization of ASI consequences, behavioral indicators, report methods and prevention of this phenomenon were discussed at each meeting. At the end of the meetings, participants answered an evaluation questionnaire on the positive and negative aspectsof the work, also proposing suggestions for future meetings. At the end of the project the data of the questionnaires were analyzed. The results were transferred to a database in Microsoft Excel 2007 and analyzed through Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 20.0 (SPSS®), with descriptive analysis of data, and simple and relative frequency survey. The results suggest that most participants evaluated the work positively, highlighting better understanding about the phenomenon, the orientation on how to proceed with the cases, and how to report suspected CSA. Few negative points were listed on the technical problems with equipment and meeting times. As suggestions, participants stressed the need to extend this work to other social institutions. We conclude that this type of awareness-raising work for the parents and guardians of public school students can favor changes in conceptions, representations and even attitudes about CSA, promoting their prevention through engagement in combating this type of social problem, which afflicts the lives of countless children and adolescents, and thus contributing to the construction of a more dignified society for our young people.