The research examined the relationship between knowledge of faith-based church leaders regarding the facts of child sexual abuse and the practice of child sexual abuse prevention steps utilized within the church. It examined the historical, theological, biblical, and ethical concerns about child sexual abuse and the church. The biblical accounts of David and Bathsheba along with the story of Tamar and Amnon were reflected upon within the historical and biblical context of sexual abuse. The theological understanding of sin and its results was analyzed in the context of child sexual abuse. A chronological exploration of the history of child abuse in the United States along with statistics for the represented years was included in the study. Exploration of the abuse of power, the multileveled aspects of denial, the victim, the perpetrator, prevention steps available to the church and parental partnership were included. The common prevention steps discussed were: a written policy and procedure manual, screening form, interview, reference checks by phone or written, criminal background checks (fingerprinting), keeping doors open, windows in the classrooms, hall monitor system, a 2-adult rule, computer on-line check for sexual offenders, waiting six months from membership, prevention training at the local church, prevention training at denominational level, adequate church insurance, and a team of members ready to deal with any accusations that may occur. There was a description of the research process. The study was descriptive quantitative research by use of a research instrument (developed from the precedent literature and validated by an expert panel) that examined the relationship between knowledge and practice of faith-based church leaders regarding child sexual abuse and prevention. The research instrument consisted of five sections: Demographics, Likert Response Scale, Prevention Steps Checklist, Hindrances, and Comments. The Likert Response Scale included questions on knowledge of child sexual abuse facts, knowledge of prevention steps, higher education, and the issue of denial among church leaders. There were 213 seminary students who were church leaders that participated in the research study. Displays of the data, analysis of the data, and interpretation of the data were included along with a description of the research implications and applications, along with possible further research. Pearson r correlation was conducted to determine if there was a relationship found between knowledge and practice of church leaders. Recommendations were made to the church on the subject of child sexual abuse prevention. / This item is only available to students and faculty of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. If you are not associated with SBTS, this dissertation may be purchased from <a href="http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb">http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb</a> or downloaded through ProQuest's Dissertation and Theses database if your institution subscribes to that service.

School administrators are required by law to report suspected cases of child abuse. They create serious legal and moral consequences for their school districts when they fail to report suspicions of child abuse occurring in the school setting. Studies consistently find that child sexual abuse is under-reported and that allegations of sexual abuse by school personnel are increasing. School administrators may not be responding effectively to the abuse that does occur in schools because they have not been trained to recognize indicators of abuse nor to effectively investigate allegations of abuse. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether specially designed training would significantly improve school administrators' performance on child sexual abuse case simulations. Subjects were from a convenience sample of 40 practicing administrators from five school districts in Yamhill County, Oregon. A one-group pretest-intervention-post-test (A-B-A) design was used, and data were collected using three instruments: (1) an administrator questionnaire developed through a Delphi Process, (2) a pre-evaluation case simulation, and (3) a post-evaluation case simulation. The t test of alpha was used to examine the correlated means and determine the significance in changes in performance between the pre- and post-test results. A standard level of significance (p<.05) was employed throughout the study. This study confirms that the administrators in this sample were lacking in knowledge in the six areas addressed by the training modules and that the gains they made were significant in each of the six training areas and on the overall post-test. No significant differences were found among the subjects on the basis of gender, age, experience level, and longevity in their current positions. This study concludes that school administrators may lack sufficient knowledge about child sexual abuse to adequately protect children in their schools. It also suggests that specially designed training sessions will increase reporting and reduce the number of child sexual abuse cases occurring in public schools. Districts may better fulfill their moral and legal obligations to protect children and reduce their legal costs and exposure to liability by providing specialized training in child sexual abuse for administrators. / Graduation date: 1997

This study examined the relationship between attachment and adolescent sex abusers through a literature review. Due to the dearth of literature on this subject, separate literature reviews were conducted on attachment theory and on predisposing factors to adolescent sex abusing. The results indicated that a causal relationship between attachment and the development of adolescent sex abusers is unlikely; however, insecure attachment styles were found to be one of many factors related to adolescent sex abusing. Theories related to emotional stress, the developmental stage of adolescence, intergenerational transmission and sibling incest were generated within the theoretical context of attachment. A typology was constructed that suggests how different attachment styles may be associated with various types of adolescent sex abusers. Implications for primary prevention, treatment interventions and research were discussed.

The research problem for this study was fathers’ low participation in child sexual abuse (CSA) prevention with their children. The purpose of this study was to explore how fathers perceive their self-efficacy in talking to their children about CSA prevention. Bandura’s self-efficacy concept, which is a part of social cognitive theory, was used as the theoretical foundation for this study. The primary research question addressed fathers’ perceptions of their self-efficacy in discussing CSA prevention with their children. The secondary research question addressed what fathers think could be affecting their comfort level in talking to their children about CSA prevention. A generic qualitative design was used to address these research questions. Fathers of children between the ages of 7 years and 13 years were included in this study. The participants were interviewed via telephone. Data were analyzed using a 12-step process to performing an inductive analysis on qualitative data. The findings from this study showed that 90% of the participants talked to their children about CSA prevention, even though some of them expressed doubt about their efficacy and competency in having the discussion. Participants stated that they wanted easily accessible resources to increase their efficacy and gave suggestions on how to make the resources available. This study has important social implications because increasing fathers’ self-efficacy in talking to their children about CSA prevention could lead to the increased protection of children in their environment. Increasing the protection of children could contribute to fewer cases of CSA.

No description available.

Confidants' non supportive reactions to disclosure in child sexual abuse constitutes an extensive and significant problem and is associated with a variety of negative consequences: (a) Victims do not receive adequate support or intervention and are left vulnerable to further victimization, (b) non-supportive intra-familial confidants are at greater risk of having their children removed, and (c) the justice system is rendered ineffective by the associated lack of police reporting. This study examined the extent of non-supportive disclosure and the factors associated with such reactions in a sample of 856 cases of child sexual abuse (796 girls and 60 boys) reported in the North Durban policing area of KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa) in the period January 2001 to December 2003. Of the various agents identified as having provided non-supportive reactions, three categories of non-supportive confidants emerged: namely family members, professional persons, and community members in their respective order of significance. Hierarchical cluster analysis of disclosure variables identified two broad homogenous groups (clusters) of cases of non-'supportive disclosure ("Incestuous Abuse Disclosed Within the Family", and "Extra-familial Abuse Disclosed Outside of the Family"). Binary logistic regression analysis indicated that cluster membership was meaningfully predicted by the three measure of consanguinity included in the analysis, but not significantly related to other abuse related variables. Furthermore, in cases of extra-familial abuse, nonsupportive disclosure was significantly more likely when (a) victims were below the age of twelve years, (b) no violence was used by the offender, and (c) the confidant was not related to the victim. The implications of the findings for secondary prevention and for future research are discussed in detail in this article. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2005.

The author conducted a case study for analysis of the Boy Scouts of America's (BSA) "Youth Protection" campaign, a social action campaign, developed to increase awareness and educate members on how to prevent, identify, and deal with child sexual abuse (Scoutmaster Handbook, 1990; "Unacceptables Relevancy Program," 1985).The author looked for evidence of Bandura's social cognitive theory in the campaign by identifying the following elements of the theory: observational learning, modeling, enactive learning, and symbols, in campaign artifacts (Bandura, 1977).The author sought to suggest the use of Bandura's social cognitive theory in the formative research of social action campaigns and to help public relations planners in nonprofit organizations in understanding how social action campaign messages incorporating Bandura's social cognitive theory could be presented and transmitted.Procedures began with an examination of BSA organizational and "Youth Protection" campaign artifacts, supplemented by an interview with Lawrence Potts, Administrative Group Director of the BSA, who was responsible for the development of the campaign, followed by an analysis of the campaign for evidence of Bandura's social cognitive theory.The author followed Miles and Huberman's (1994) guidelines for addressing reliability and validity.The following elements of Bandura's social cognitive theory: observational learning, modeling, enactive learning, and symbols were evident in the campaign. Observational learning, modeling, and imaginal symbols were seen in two of the videos. Enactive learning was identified in a booklet. Verbal symbols were seen in various campaign artifacts. No single artifact was identified as containing all of the elements of the theory. Campaign artifacts targeted to youth contained the most elements. Symbols were identified in all artifacts targeted to youth but only the videos showed observational learning and modeling.The author's recommendations for improving the campaign would be to use observational learning, modeling, and enactive learning for encouraging the desired behaviors and skills of the volunteer leaders and parents, in a similar way these elements were part of the artifacts targeted to youth.Campaign artifacts targeted to volunteer leaders and parents provided a great deal of information about child sexual abuse, but often the information was only stated or printed, rather than coded into verbal or imaginal symbols and demonstrated through observational learning, modeling, or enactive learning. The author would also recommend verbal and imaginal symbols be used to help volunteer leaders and parents remember information about child sexual abuse.The boys serving as models in two of the videos only appeared in these artifacts. The author would further recommend these models be used in all campaign artifacts targeted to youth.Limitations of the study included the legitimacy of qualitative research, that the study may not be considered a case study in the strictest sense, and that BSA campaign planners did not intentionally incorporate elements of Bandura's social cognitive theory in their "Youth Protection" campaign, although elements of the theory were identified in campaign artifacts.Further research on the BSA's "Youth Protection" campaign should be to evaluate its effectiveness. / Department of Journalism

Sexual violence against children (SVAC) is a complex, global challenge that negatively impacts the health and human rights of hundreds of millions of children. Over the last 50 years, SVAC has increasingly been viewed as a public health problem, and significant progress has been made in understanding its prevalence, identifying risk factors, and developing prevention approaches. While practitioners recognize that children’s experiences of sexual violence are diverse, there is an absence of evidence on different forms of SVAC. In this dissertation, I introduce the construct of “SVAC subtype,” which aims to capture the heterogeneity in children’s experiences of sexual violence. SVAC subtype refers to the characteristics associated with an SVAC experience, including the survivor’s characteristics (age, gender, etc.), the perpetrator’s characteristics (age, relationship to survivor, etc.), and the event’s characteristics (the location, the specific acts, etc.). Greater insight into SVAC subtypes provides policymakers, implementers, and researchers with information they can use to assess how well existing SVAC interventions prevent the identified subtypes, to tailor and target prevention interventions to better reach and meet the needs of children, and to improve research on SVAC and evaluations of prevention programs. In this dissertation, I describe how to identify and apply SVAC subtypes to ensure that no children are left behind in SVAC primary prevention efforts. I developed Chapters 1 and 2 in partnership with the AfriChild Centre, a Uganda-based research institute that promotes the well-being of African children. In Chapter 1, I describe the application of the Latent Class Analysis (LCA) methodology to identify subtypes of children’s first SVAC incidents across five Eastern and Southern African countries (Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda, and Zambia). This analysis used nationally representative Violence Against Children Survey (VACS) data to identify eight subtypes of first SVAC incidents, four among boys and four among girls. Among boys, the identified subtypes were Boys’ SVAC subtype 1: Peer-perpetrated sexual touching at school; Boys’ SVAC subtype 2: Preadolescent survivors, known perpetrator; Boys’ SVAC subtype 3: Partner-perpetrated, forced or pressured sex at survivor’s home; and Boys’ SVAC subtype 4: Older adolescent survivors, attempted forced sex on a road, estimated to represent 25%, 29%, 14% and 32% of boys’ first SVAC incidents, respectively. Among girls, the identified subtypes were Girls’ SVAC subtype 1: Peer-perpetrated sexual touching at school; Girls’ SVAC subtype 2: Preadolescent survivors in their own home, known perpetrator; Girls’ SVAC subtype 3: Partner-perpetrated forced or pressured sex at perpetrator’s home; and Girls’ SVAC subtype 4: Adolescent survivors, attempted forced sex on a road, estimated to represent 13%, 15%, 31% and 40% of girls’ first SVAC incidents, respectively. Experiencing emotional violence, physical violence, or parental absence prior to SV was predictive of experiencing certain SVAC subtypes compared to others. In Chapter 2, the same approach was applied to understand SVAC subtypes in Uganda using VACS data. Among boys, the identified subtypes were: Boys’ SVAC subtype 1: Peer-perpetrated sexual touching at school; Boys’ SVAC subtype 2: Preadolescent survivors, forced or pressured sex, family member perpetrator; Boys’ SVAC subtype 3: Older adolescent survivors, repeated, partner-perpetrated SV, outdoors; and Boys’ SVAC subtype 4: Young adolescent survivors, attempted forced sex, neighbor perpetrator, estimated to represent 27%, 14%, 24% and 34% of boys’ first SVAC incidents, respectively. Among girls, four subtypes were identified: Girls’ SVAC subtype 1: Peer-perpetrated sexual touching at school; Girls’ SVAC subtype 2: Preadolescent survivors, attempted or forced sex, neighbor or family member perpetrator; Girls’ SVAC subtype 3: Older adolescent survivors, repeated, partner-perpetrated SV; and Girls’ SVAC subtype 4: Stranger-perpetrated SV, outdoors, estimated to represent 21%, 12%, 26% and 41% of girls’ first SVAC incidents, respectively. Among boys and girls reporting SVAC, physical violence or parental absence prior to SV significantly increased the odds of reporting SVAC subtype 2, compared to SVAC subtype 1. Stakeholders in Eastern and Southern Africa can use the findings of Chapters 1 and 2 to assess how well existing SVAC interventions are expected to prevent the identified subtypes and take corrective actions to ensure any overlooked SVAC subtypes are prevented. In both chapters, I present brief, non-exhaustive assessments of this issue, which revealed misalignment between prevention programs and prevalent SVAC subtypes. Practitioners can also use the identified SVAC subtypes to target and tailor SVAC primary prevention programs in the region to increase their effectiveness and sustainability. Finally, researchers can use the findings to design surveys that better capture the heterogeneity of survivors’ experiences, allowing them to ascertain the prevalence of SVAC subtypes across time and settings and to determine which programs are effective in preventing specific subtypes. In Chapter 3, I present additional recommendations for how identified SVAC subtypes can be utilized, introducing the Plan2Prevent roadmap, which provides guidance to implementers on how to consider SVAC subtypes and other contextual factors to design or refine SVAC prevention approaches. This chapter describes a partnership with Pathfinder Tanzania to pilot the Plan2Prevent roadmap to refine an SVAC prevention program in Zanzibar. Plan2Prevent has the potential to support practitioners to use data to design or refine SVAC prevention programs that are informed by evidence and aligned with the local context, with the aim of more effectively and sustainably preventing SVAC. Analyzing data to better understand the heterogeneity of children’s experiences of sexual violence by identifying SVAC subtypes can support stakeholders to move away from viewing SVAC as a one-dimensional issue. Chapters 1 and 2 demonstrate the utility of LCA as a means of identifying SVAC subtypes, and all three chapters provide guidance on how SVAC subtypes can be used to improve SVAC primary prevention efforts. A deeper understanding of SVAC subtypes can help policymakers, implementers, and researchers to assess the state of SVAC prevention programming and improve SVAC prevention interventions, research, and evaluation. Overall, this dissertation posits that the application of more nuanced, data-based understanding of SVAC can improve prevention programs so that more children can live free from sexual violence.

Children have been shown to respond differently to the hurt that they suffer at the hands of others. Some of these responses involve internalised behaviours (i.e., repression of feelings, bodily symptoms, etc.); whilst others hurt manifest as externalised behaviours, such as physical attacks on others. These may include sexualised behaviours. The latter is particularly common amongst (but not restricted to) children who have been sexually abused (The American Psychological Association, 2001). For the purposes of this study a distinction is made between developmentally appropriate sexual behaviour and non normative sexualised behaviour which evoke complaints from and discomfort in those involved in the behaviour. The manifestation of these sexualised behaviours is especially pronounced amongst children in institutional care; and hence, it calls for constructive and effective management by the child care workers who are primarily responsible for their safe care and behaviour modification whilst in the institution. This qualitative study – with an exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design – served to explore how the child care workers’ effective management of such behaviours could be enhanced, so that the emotional wellbeing of both the “offender” and the “perpetrator” of this behaviour can be promoted. A non-probability purposive sampling technique was employed to recruit research participants from three different child and youth care centres in Port Elizabeth. A total number of 10 research participants were involved and data was collected up to the point of data saturation. Thematic content analysis was utilised for the analysis of the data and the necessary strategies were employed to enhance the trustworthiness of the data and to meet all the ethical requirements of the study. The main findings alert to the key requirements of Child and Youth Care Workers; it confirms the occurrence of sexualised behaviours; the urgent need for a consistent approach to the management of such behaviours; and for enhanced team work between the helping professionals in the team. The value of the study is embedded in the contributions it can make to practical interventions for children in institutional care, and to the sparse body of knowledge in this area.