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Journals / Hacettepe Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi / 2026 / Cilt: 41 Sayı: 1

Efficacy of a Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Program for Turkish Second-Grade Primary School Children

Türkan Yılmaz Irmak(EGE ÜNİVERSİTESİ)0000-0003-0777-7595
Rukiye Kızıltepe(İZMİR BAKIRÇAY ÜNİVERSİTESİ)0000-0001-8076-3419
Duygu Eslek Çetin(İZMİR DEMOKRASİ ÜNİVERSİTESİ)0000-0002-5649-2417
Duygu Güngör Culha(DOKUZ EYLÜL ÜNİVERSİTESİ)0000-0003-0809-186X
Cerem Sancaklı(İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi)0009-0007-4769-7414
Özge Koçak(Maze Psikoloji)0009-0003-9996-8299
Özge Kaya(Turgutlu İlçe Sağlık Müdürlüğü)0009-0005-9498-3814
Dilan Manap Koçak(Hera Psikoloji)0009-0009-0250-7087
Gülsüm Yörük Ülker(MANİSA CELÂL BAYAR ÜNİVERSİTESİ)0000-0003-0572-2750
Pages
236–249
Publication Date
2026-01-23
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AI Summary & Key Takeaways

AI Insight
⚡ TL;DR(Too Long; Didn't Read)

The findings revealed that the children in the intervention group demonstrated significant improvements in knowledge.

📌 3 Key Takeaways

🎯
Objective & Hypothesis:School-based prevention programs may play a crucial role in protecting children against child sexual abuse.
📊
Key Findings & Data:We carried out the study with 104 second graders aged 6-8 years (Mage = 6.99, SD = 0.49).
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Conclusion & Impact:The findings revealed that the children in the intervention group demonstrated significant improvements in knowledge.
🔬Design:Modeling & Simulation
📍Scope:2067 Verileri
⚙️Variables:Child sexual abuse · prevention · school-based program

Abstract

School-based prevention programs may play a crucial role in protecting children against child sexual abuse. However, only a few prevention programs have been implemented for primary school children in Türkiye so far. Ultimately, we aimed to develop a child sexual abuse prevention program and explore its efficacy using a pretest-posttest comparison group design. We carried out the study with 104 second graders aged 6-8 years (Mage = 6.99, SD = 0.49). Using a quasi-experimental design with comparison group, children’s classrooms were randomly assigned to either the intervention group (n = 66) or the wait-list comparison group (n = 38). All the children were recruited to a pretest and a posttest using the Child Sexual Abuse Knowledge Form, the Self-Protection Skill Form, and the Good Touch-Bad Touch Test. The students in the intervention group participated in the 4-hour child sexual abuse prevention program. To investigate effectiveness of the program on children’s knowledge levels, we used the three-state latent Markov model with (SABIC = 2067.7511, AIC = 2091.4234) and without (SABIC = 2075.4711, AIC = 2095.0264) intervention and wait-list comparison groups as a covariate variable. This result implied that the program was effective for the children in the intervention group since the transition probabilities between the intervention and wait-list comparison groups were significantly different. The findings revealed that the children in the intervention group demonstrated significant improvements in knowledge. Their self-protection skills (number of responses, effective strategies, diversity of response) also showed significant improvements. (respectively (F(1, 101)= 4.280, p <.05, η2= .04, F(1, 101)= 4.539, p <.05, η2= .04, F(1, 101)= 10.029, p <.05, η2= .09). Hence, we can confidently highlight the importance of the prevention program for second graders, and the child sexual abuse prevention program can be utilized as a primary prevention program in Turkish primary schools.

Özet

School-based prevention programs may play a crucial role in protecting children against child sexual abuse. However, only a few prevention programs have been implemented for primary school children in Türkiye so far. Ultimately, we aimed to develop a child sexual abuse prevention program and explore its efficacy using a pretest-posttest comparison group design. We carried out the study with 104 second graders aged 6-8 years (Mage = 6.99, SD = 0.49). Using a quasi-experimental design with comparison group, children’s classrooms were randomly assigned to either the intervention group (n = 66) or the wait-list comparison group (n = 38). All the children were recruited to a pretest and a posttest using the Child Sexual Abuse Knowledge Form, the Self-Protection Skill Form, and the Good Touch-Bad Touch Test. The students in the intervention group participated in the 4-hour child sexual abuse prevention program. To investigate effectiveness of the program on children’s knowledge levels, we used the three-state latent Markov model with (SABIC = 2067.7511, AIC = 2091.4234) and without (SABIC = 2075.4711, AIC = 2095.0264) intervention and wait-list comparison groups as a covariate variable. This result implied that the program was effective for the children in the intervention group since the transition probabilities between the intervention and wait-list comparison groups were significantly different. The findings revealed that the children in the intervention group demonstrated significant improvements in knowledge. Their self-protection skills (number of responses, effective strategies, diversity of response) also showed significant improvements. (respectively (F(1, 101)= 4.280, p <.05, η2= .04, F(1, 101)= 4.539, p <.05, η2= .04, F(1, 101)= 10.029, p <.05, η2= .09). Hence, we can confidently highlight the importance of the prevention program for second graders, and the child sexual abuse prevention program can be utilized as a primary prevention program in Turkish primary schools.

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Cite This Article

Irmak, T. Y., Kızıltepe, R., Çetin, D. E., Culha, D. G., Sancaklı, C., Koçak, Ö., Kaya, Ö., Koçak, D. M., Ülker, G. Y. (2026). Efficacy of a Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Program for Turkish Second-Grade Primary School Children. Hacettepe Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, Cilt: 41 Sayı: 1, 236–249. https://doi.org/10.16986/hunefd.1754316

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