Engaging parents in child-focused child sexual abuse prevention education strategies : A systematic review

Child sexual abuse (CSA) prevention programs are often delivered at a universal level in schools to children and young people with the goal of increasing all young people’s protective behaviours and knowledge. Although programs can be targeted specifically at parents (to build their knowledge or skills in protecting children and responding to safety concerns), another way parents can be involved is through engagement and involvement in child-focused programs. Recent research has suggested a need to involve parents more in CSA prevention. Research evaluating programs that engage parents often neglects to evaluate the impact or effect of engaging parents on program outcomes, making it is difficult to understand how, when, and in what ways parents can be involved effectively in programs.
A conducted a systematic review of databases, previous reviews of CSA prevention programs, and studies of programs that involved parents beyond simple requests for consent of their child’s participation in the program. We extracted data to help us understand in what ways have and how parents can be involved in child-focused CSA prevention programs to increase their effectiveness.
More work is needed to evaluate the benefit of involving parents in child-focused CSA prevention programs. Understanding how working with parents prior to deploying programs in schools—and other youth-serving organisations—could facilitate parent engagement. Future prevention education could benefit if advocates promote greater understanding of the benefits of engaging parents.

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TO CITE THE REPORT:
Russell, D. H., Trew, S., Harris, L., Dickson, J., Walsh, K., Higgins, D. J., & Smith, R. (2023). Engaging parents in child-focused child sexual abuse prevention education strategies: A systematic review. Institute of Child Protection Studies, Australian Catholic University.

This project was commissioned by Bravehearts Foundation Ltd. Bravehearts received funding through the Westpac Safer Children, Safer Communities program.