School-Based Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Program (Program Prevensi Pelecehan Seksual Berbasis Sekolah (P3SBS)

What it is and how it works

P3SBS developed by researchers at Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta, was implemented in a private Muslim school and a public school in Surakarta, Indonesia, in 2019 to help first-grade primary school students build body-safety knowledge and self-protection skills related to sexual violence prevention. Both schools used the national curriculum, while the Muslim school also implemented Muhammadiyah-based education, making Islamic values central to the school's culture. 

The program used behavioral strategies to teach body-safety rules, such as saying no, calling for help, escaping, and telling trusted adults. P3SBS also taught children to identify private body parts and understand safe and unsafe touch [2]. 

The program was delivered by parents at home and by teachers at schools as part of the school curriculum. Before the P3SBS program was delivered to children, two training sessions were provided for both teachers and parents over a week-long period on sex education and on how to deliver the P3SBS content. 

Parents used a pocketbook to teach their children at home about private body parts, correct anatomical terms, gender differences, and ways to protect themselves from sexual violence. Teachers then checked children’s understanding at school by asking questions based on activities in the teacher’s guidebook [2]. 

The content and delivery of the material were adjusted to local cultural and religious values, particularly regarding discussions of sexual anatomy and terminology. The training drew on Islamic teachings to support the use of clear, appropriate biological terms, including vagina and penis, rather than euphemisms. This was an important component of the training because, in the community, these terms are often replaced with euphemisms, for example, referring to the vagina as apem and the penis as burung (bird).

Other Islamic principles related to teaching children about sexuality were also incorporated into the training. These included guidance for children that they should sleep separately once they reach puberty and should learn to care for and protect their private parts. 

Evaluation and program outcomes

To determine the impact of P3SBS, the implementers conducted a quasi-experimental study from April to October 2019 using a pre- and post-test design with a control group. The participants included 110 first-grade students (55 in the intervention group and 55 in the control group, 51 boys and 59 girls). Data were collected twice from the experimental and control groups: one week prior to and one week after the intervention. Children were interviewed individually using the ‘What If’ Situation Test (WIST) [2], which presented hypothetical situations involving potentially unsafe or inappropriate interactions, such as being asked to remove their clothes or having their chest or genitals touched.

Results of this evaluation indicate:

• Children improved their overall ability to protect themselves from sexual violence. The average overall WIST score improved from 12 out of 30 at baseline to 26.7 out of 30 after the intervention.
• Children demonstrated an increased ability to recognize inappropriate (unsafe) requests. The score went from 2.61 (out of 3) to 2.94 in the intervention group. In contrast, recognition of appropriate requests improved similarly in both the intervention and control groups, increasing from 2.52 to 2.89 and from 2.52 to 2.85, respectively, resulting in no significant group difference.
• Boys and girls performed similarly. There was no significant gender difference in any aspect of WIST. 

Challenges

• Sex education is often considered a taboo topic by both parents and teachers, which can make it difficult to teach children about body safety and self-protective skills [2]. However, broader awareness of issues related to sexual violence has facilitated openness in addressing these issues, and reporting mechanisms are generally clear.
• Some community members raised concerns that talking about issues related to sex could make children more curious. However, local and religious leaders did not restrict these topics. 
• Teachers often lack adequate training in delivering sex education, further limiting their ability to effectively teach these topics to children [2].
• Differences were also observed between public and private schools in program implementation. The private (religious) school was generally more supportive and flexible throughout the process, which facilitated the program's implementation. This support came not only from the school administration and staff, who were more accommodating of the project's activities and requirements, but also from parents, who were more receptive to the program's content and objectives.

Lessons learned

• Collaboration between parents and teachers was critical to the program's success. Because the program was implemented in Grade 1, parental support was particularly important, as parents could explain the names and functions of sexual organs more openly and comfortably to their children.
• The content of programs of this type should be age-appropriate, aligned with children's developmental stages, and integrated into the school curriculum.
• Teacher training is essential, as educational materials and concepts must be adapted to children's level of understanding and language abilities.