Abstract
This chapter describes the current challenges facing public heath approach in preventing child sexual abuse. It specifically considers what primary prevention involves within such a framework and the empirical and theoretical challenges that child sexual abuse presents to prevention efforts. It then outlines what, in keeping with a public health approach, may be the ways forward to address these issues.
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Notes
- 1.
See for example evaluations and resources available through OurWatch: https://www.ourwatch.org.au/Media-Resources; VicHealth: https://www.vichealth.vic.gov.au/our-work/preventing-violence-against-women, and Partners in Prevention Community Practice Network for prevention workers: http://www.partnersinprevention.org.au.
- 2.
The following paragraph draws from a conceptual mapping of the social, legal, cultural and institutional trends that influenced responses to child sexual abuse in institutions 1950–2014 (see Quadara 2017).
- 3.
Acknowledging the challenge of drawing a line from addressing key determinants of violence against women to interim measures, to outcome measures, the national organization leading developments in preventing violence against women developed a guide for policy-makers, researchers, and other stakeholders on measuring population-level progress. This guide can be found at: https://www.ourwatch.org.au/What-We-Do/Counting-on-change-A-guide-to-prevention-monitorin
- 4.
For example, incarcerated males comprise only the known and currently apprehended child sexual abusers and are more likely to be from a low socio-economic status, whereas unapprehended child sexual abuse perpetrators are perhaps more likely to be from a more solid financial background (Briere and Spinazzola 2009; Schaefer et al. 2010).
- 5.
Note that in their review, Klevens and Whitaker (2007) did not include the prevention specifically of child sexualabuse.
- 6.
Key examples include respectful relationships education with children and young people in K-12 settings to teach skills in recognising and challenging gender stereotypes and in building respectful relationships (Ollis and Dyson 2017; Flood et al. 2009); prevention education programs with male-oriented sports such as Respect and Responsibility with Australian Football League (AFL clubs) (Dyson and Flood 2008); workplace prevention programs and initiatives to improve media representation of violence against women. More information about the designed to address the key determinants of violence against women can be found on the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation website: https://www.vichealth.vic.gov.au/search?category=Preventing%20violence%20against%20women; and the OurWatch website: https://www.ourwatch.org.au/What-We-Do
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Quadara, A. (2019). Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Strategies for Population-Level Change: Challenges and Future Directions. In: Lonne, B., Scott, D., Higgins, D., Herrenkohl, T.I. (eds) Re-Visioning Public Health Approaches for Protecting Children. Child Maltreatment, vol 9. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05858-6_10
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