Read online or download through the link above.
Abstract: To date, child sexual abuse (CSA) prevention has relied largely on child-focused education, teaching children how to identify, avoid, and disclose sexual abuse. The purpose of this article is to explore how prevention opportunities can include parents in new and innovative ways. We propose that parents can play a significant role as protectors of their children via two pathways: (i) directly, through the strong external barriers afforded by parent supervision, monitoring, and involvement; and (ii) indirectly, by promoting their children’s self-efficacy, competence, well-being, and self-esteem, which the balance of evidence suggests will help them become less likely targets for abuse and more able to respond appropriately and disclose abuse if it occurs. In this article, we first describe why teaching young children about CSA protective behaviors might not be sufficient for prevention. We then narratively review the existing research on parents and prevention and the parenting and family circumstances that may increase a child’s risk of experiencing sexual abuse. Finally, we make a number of recommendations for future approaches to prevention that may better inform and involve parents and other adult protectors in preventing CSA.

Read online through link above.
Summary: Family, domestic and sexual violence is a major health and welfare issue. It occurs across all ages, and all socioeconomic and demographic groups, but predominantly affects women and children.
This report explores the latest data available to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare on family, domestic and sexual violence in Australia. It brings together information from multiple sources on victims and perpetrators and on the causes, impacts and outcomes of violence. Gathering this information highlights notable data gaps which, if filled, could strengthen the evidence base and support the prevention and reduction of family, domestic and sexual violence in Australia.
As many data collections focus only on violence perpetrated by an intimate partner, particularly male violence against women, much of this report focuses on domestic violence.

To read this piece, you can request the full-text pdf from the authors through the link above.
Abstract: Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a serious public health issue. Current after-the-fact approaches to treating victims and punishing offenders are not adequate to address a problem of this magnitude; development and rigorous evaluation of CSA prevention strategies are critical. We propose that CSA prevention efforts should target parents of young children. Parents have been neglected as a focus of CSA prevention; they merit attention given their potential to improve children’s safety via effective communication and monitoring. This paper provides an overview of current strategies for reducing CSA prevalence and their limitations, presents a rationale for parent-focused CSA prevention, and discusses considerations pertinent to development of an effective parent-focused approach. Parent-focused CSA prevention offers potential as a public health approach to prevention of CSA, and it is time that we devote resources toward developing and studying this important area.

Read online through link above.
Introduction: The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) commissioned this independent review of evidence to inform guidance for professionals, policy makers and field workers on effective strategies to prevent and respond to child sexual abuse and exploitation. The review involved desk-based research into a wide and varied range of literature on the extent, nature and consequences of child sexual abuse and exploitation and responses made to this in high-, middle- and low-income countries of the world. This included research published in English language peer-reviewed journals, ‘grey literature’, legal instruments and resolutions, policy documents, progress reports and guidance documents from 2000 to 2014. The review built on a bibliography compiled by UNICEF (Reza 2012), supplemented by searches of 17 electronic research databases, websites, contents of key journals and grey literature, and articles referenced in papers read.

Over the last 40 years, child sexual abuse (CSA) has become a regular, if discomforting, focus of public concern and attention. A constant stream of news items, investigations and arrests, public inquiries and statements from politicians and authorities can leave the impression that child sex offending is being countered by the full opposition of the state and community. This impression is deceptive. There have been, of course, meaningful advances in child protection and therapeutic responses to victimised children and adult survivors, and improvements in public awareness and understanding of CSA. Nonetheless, the challenges that CSA have always posed to child protection, health services, law enforcement and society at large –including the prevalence and secrecy of CSA, the complexities of prosecution and the multiple impacts on victims –remain with us today. Meanwhile, patterns of sexual offending against children continue to evolve with the development of new technologies and strategies for sexual exploitation.