School-based abuse prevention programs for children : a scoping review

Abstract

Child abuse can have serious long-term physical, psychological, behavioural, societal and economic consequences. The aim of this scoping review was to map the literature on abuse prevention programs conducted at schools for pre-teenage children. The review outlines the specific components and methods of the programs, the measurements used and the results obtained. The review included 4135 children, 1841 parents, 16 teachers and two school counsellors. A scoping review of published articles was conducted following the Joanna Briggs methodology. PubMed, PSYCInfo, ERIC, The Cochrane Library and CINAHL were searched for articles published between 1989 and 2018. The search yielded 2042 publications of which nine met the inclusion criteria. Eight of the publications reported positive results. One publication reported mixed results in terms of the safety skills and knowledge of the participating children. There were several similarities between the programs regarding key components and methods of delivery. None of the articles included children with disabilities, even though they are particularly vulnerable of becoming victims of abuse.