Preventing child sexual abuse at preschool age: What programs, what strategies

Abstract

With short and long-term impacts, child sexual abuse is a severe public health problem of shared responsibility that, due to lack of knowledge, lack of information or preconceptions, we dissipate opportunities to prevent. That said, the general aim of this article is to identify interventions and strategies from different sexual abuse prevention programs in preschool children that professionals can use. From the PubMed, BMC Public Health, Europe PMC and ResearchGate databases, we selected eight studies that met the aim of this study. Data analysis led to categorising three types of programs envisioned for intervention with children, parents, and educators. In the programs, approaches for children focus on the theme of healthy and safe relationships, for parents to raise awareness and develop strategies for effective communication with their children, and for educators focused on the training and use of pedagogical resources to identify abuse. The conclusions demonstrated that the issue involves behaviours considered to be intimate within families and that these abuses are carried out regardless of socioeconomic status, age, religion and/or sexual orientation. Therefore, there is an urgent need to learn and share knowledge to help protect children and promote healthier, more socially capable adults. Likewise, alongside these recipients, we see the need to explore the role of other actors in prevention, disseminate warning signs in communities, demystify behaviors and the need for public awareness and the responsibility that we all have regarding child sexual abuse.