Logo image
Back
Community understanding of child sexual abuse: implications for STOP IT NOW! Philadelphia
Thesis

Community understanding of child sexual abuse: implications for STOP IT NOW! Philadelphia

Archana Anil Patel
Master of Public Health (M.P.H.), Drexel University
May 2005
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00001901
pdf
Patel_Archana_200536.61 MB
PDF Restricted Access, VIEWABLE UPON REQUEST: contact archives@drexel.edu
mp4
Patel_Archana_2005_PSA3.92 MB
Video (supplemental) Restricted Access, VIEWABLE UPON REQUEST: contact archives@drexel.edu
mp3
Patel_Archana_2005_StopItNow_30MusicBox472.44 kB
Audio (supplemental) Restricted Access, VIEWABLE UPON REQUEST: contact archives@drexel.edu
mp3
Patel_Archana_2005_StopItNow_60MusicBox951.23 kB
Audio (supplemental) Restricted Access, VIEWABLE UPON REQUEST: contact archives@drexel.edu
mp3
Patel_Archana_2005_StopItNow_60Secret950.32 kB
Audio (supplemental) Restricted Access, VIEWABLE UPON REQUEST: contact archives@drexel.edu

Abstract

Public Health
Child sexual abuse has been called a "global, public health concern" by the World Health Organization. An estimated 500,000 children are sexually abused each year, and 88% of sexual abuse cases are never reported. The current methods of addressing this problem typically depend on reacting to discovery of abuse, or the child coming forward. However, due to lack of reporting, this method is clearly ineffective. STOP IT NOW! is an organization that has emerged to combat the problem from a primary prevention standpoint. Currently, however, the program is not effectively addressing 20-35 year olds, the population most likely to have children at risk for being abused. This project was designed to assess findings derived from the facilitation of focus groups composed of the demographic from where STOP IT NOW! Philadelphia is implementing programs to address this issue. Three groups were conducted by an outside agency, MEE productions: Latino men ages 20-35, Latina women ages 20-35, and Black men ages 35-60. Theme analysis was use to analyze the focus group data. The major themes that arose were: distrust of agencies dealing with child sexual abuse, thinking of child sexual abuse in stereotypical terms, a need to talk to children about appropriate and inappropriate sexual behavior, fear of reporting and lack of clarity on how to report, and a need for educating and empowering children directly. The major recommendations from the analysis for the current program is to expand distribution of materials, access parents and children through the schools, development of parallel, culturally tailored programs, and a building of trust from within the communities for agencies to which suspected abuse is reported. Due to limitations of this research, in terms of focus group execution and difficulty generalizing, there is still a need for more research regarding how to reach 20-35 year olds. Currently, viable venues for this seem to be churches, schools, and community organizations.

Metrics

23 Record Views

Details

Logo image