A Parent-focused Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Program: Development, Acceptability, and Feasibility

Objectives: Child sexual abuse (CSA) affects nearly 60,000 children in the U.S. annually. Although prevention efforts targeting adults in the community and school-aged children have been somewhat successful, there is a clear gap in the current prevention efforts: parents. Generalized parent-education (PE) programs have effectively reduced the rates of physical abuse and neglect; however, currently no PE program targets risk factors for CSA specifically. We sought to develop a brief parent-focused CSA prevention module to be added onto existing PE programs thereby leveraging the skills and implementation infrastructure to ensure sustainability. Methods: In three phases, we developed the curriculum, refined content and presentation while simultaneously developing and psychometrically evaluating a measurement tool, and conducted an acceptability and feasibility pilot. These phases are described in detail such that intervention scientists wishing to develop a module to be added onto existing programs can follow our procedures. Results: The results of each phase are described so that the reader can see how information gleaned in one part of a phase informed subsequent phases of research. This was an iterative process of development, refinement, and piloting. Conclusions: The resultant parent-focused CSA prevention module is designed to be added onto extant evidence-based PE programs. The module, and the additive approach of the intervention, will be evaluated in a future randomized controlled trial.