CE22-003 - Evaluation of the effects of child sexual abuse prevention policies on adult perpetrated child sexual abuse

Abstract The current proposal seeks to rigorously evaluate prevention policy approaches for their impact on the primary prevention of child sexual abuse (CSA) perpetrated by adults. Specifically, this proposal is responsive to Research Priority 3: Community- or societal-level approaches (i.e., programs, policies, or practices that target characteristics of settings that increase or buffer against the risk for violence) by cataloguing and rigorously evaluating state policies (i.e., school- based CSA education laws and other relevant policies) associated with the prevention of CSA. Programs that teach adults and children about the signs and symptoms of CSA, along with strategies to report concerns of CSA, have promising evidence for increasing participant knowledge and skills (Walsh et al., 2018; Gushwa, Bernier, & Robinson, 2019; Letourneau, Nietert, & Rheingold, 2016). As such, 34 states and D.C. have school-based statutes that encourage or mandate schools to provide CSA training to adults and/or children (Enough Abuse Campaign & Prevent Child Abuse America, 2021). To date, there is very little evaluation of these state policies to determine whether they are having the intended effect of population-level decreases in CSA (Rosenzweig, & Hiner, 2020). The current proposal seeks to close that gap. In Component A (i.e., Years 1 & 2) of this cooperative agreement, we will form a research- practice-policy partnership (RPPP) (Aim A1), with researchers, policy experts, CSA professionals, and those with lived expertise with CSA, to inform a state-by-state policy landscape assessment (Aim A2) and scoping review of the scientific literature (Aim A3) on the topic of CSA prevention policies. The specific plan for engaging the “Research Advisory Board” (i.e., RPPP) is included under the Innovation Section. The products of Component A will make independent scientific contributions and will provide the research team with the necessary data (i.e., independent variables) for our rigorous policy analysis in Component B. In Component B (i.e., Years 3 through 5) of this cooperative agreement, we propose to rigorously evaluate school-based CSA education laws (Aim B1) and their variation (Aim B2) as well as examine other CSA policies (Aim B3) across states on reports and substantiations for CSA and other forms of child maltreatment. By evaluating the effects associated with school-based CSA education laws and their variations across states, our results will provide scientific evidence as to whether these prevention policies are having their intended effect on CSA and other child maltreatment outcomes.