Who Do You Tell

OVERVIEW

The Who Do You Tell program is a sexual abuse prevention program for elementary school students. The program is designed to give participants information and the skills necessary to identify and respond to unwanted touch.  Experimental evaluations show that the program is effective in increasing children’s’ knowledge of appropriate and inappropriate touch and how to differentiate the two.

DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM

Target population: Elementary school students from first grade through sixth grade

The Who Do You Tell program was designed by the Calgary Communities Against Sexual Assault.  It is offered in elementary schools at the request of the principal.  The program consists of two sessions presented on consecutive days.  Each session lasts between 45 minutes and an hour.  The sessions are conducted in small groups of 15 to 20 children and taught with two trainers.  The trainers teach children through the use of short videos, pictures, role-plays and discussions.  Prior to the beginning of the program, there is also an information evening held for the parents where training for parents is provided on how to proceed if children disclose about inappropriate touching.  There are also different formats of the curriculum used for the youngest children (kindergarten through 2^nd grade), the middle grades (3^rd and 4^th grades), and older children (5^th and 6^th grade).  These different formats are used to make sure that children have age appropriate material and videos.

EVALUATION(S) OF PROGRAM

Tutty, L.M. (1997). Child sexual abuse prevention programs: Evaluating Who Do You Tell. Child Abuse and Neglect, 21(9), 869-881.

Evaluated population: 231 Canadian children were randomly assigned to participate in either the Who Do You Tell program or a control condition.  117 children received the Who Do You Tell program while 114 children were in the control condition.

Approach: The researcher measured outcomes using several questionnaires administered to children.  To measure knowledge about abuse prevention concepts, the researchers used the Children’s Knowledge of Abuse Questionnaire-Revised (CKAQ-R).  The CKAQ-R consists of 33-items and was administered verbally to children.  The researcher also used the 9-item Appropriate Touch Scale and the 24-item Inappropriate Touch Scale to measure children’s’ knowledge of appropriate and inappropriate touch.  Demographic information and parental feedback were also collected.

Results: Data were analyzed using an ANCOVA design controlling for pre-test scores. Results of the study indicated that while both experimental and control group members increased their knowledge about abuse prevention concepts, children in the experimental group had significantly higher scores on the CKAQ-R than their control counterparts.  Results also indicated that children in the experimental group significantly increased their knowledge of appropriate and inappropriate touch.  The researchers stated that parents were supportive of the program.  Although the researchers concluded that the program produced significant gains, the magnitude of those gains was rather small. To be more effective, researchers suggest a more powerful implementation of the program.

SOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION

References

Tutty, L.M. (1997). Child sexual abuse prevention programs: Evaluating Who Do You Tell. Child Abuse and Neglect, 21(9), 869-881.

Website: http://calgarycasa.com/programs/who-do-you-tell 

Program categorized in this guide according to the following:

Evaluated participant ages: Grades 1-6 / Program age ranges in the Guide: 6-11

Program components: parent or family component, school-based

Measured outcomes: life skills

Program information last updated 3/16/07

© Child Trends 2004