Smarter Parents. Safer Kids.: Findings from a Quasi-Experimental Study Evaluating a Universal Parent-Focused Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Workshop

Background and Purpose: Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a preventable act of violence requiring the prioritization of universal primary prevention efforts. Parents are uniquely positioned to protect their children from victimization and are thus key stakeholders in prevention; however, there are currently no evidence-based universal parent-focused primary prevention interventions for CSA. The current study sought to fill this void in the literature and in practice. Adapted from an evidence-based selective intervention, Smarter Parents. Safer Kids. (SPSK) is a universal single-session 2-hour workshop designed for parents (or primary caregivers) of children ≤13-years-old.

Methods: A quasi-experimental study (from May 2024-December 2025) leveraged ongoing implementation of SPSK in 15 Pennsylvania communities to evaluate potential gains in CSA-related awareness and intentions to use protective behaviors among parents who received SPSK compared to those who did not (N=343). All participants completed three surveys: baseline, 1-month post-, and 3-months post-baseline (or SPSK workshop, for experimental group). The primary analysis was conducted with a difference-in-differences approach using a linear mixed-effects regression model to fit the outcome, CSA-related knowledge and intentions to use protective behaviors.

Results: Findings demonstrated no significant differences between groups at baseline (p=0.989). Parents who participated in SPSK demonstrated statistically significant gains in CSA-related knowledge and intentions to use protective behaviors compared to parents in the control condition (p<0.001; d=0.60). These gains were maintained after 3-months (p<0.001; d=0.54).

Conclusions and Implications: This work demonstrates the preliminary efficacy of SPSK and has the potential to advance large scale efforts to implement universal CSA prevention with parents and primary caregivers, ultimately preventing victimization.