By now, we hope that you’ve heard the exciting news that Darkness to Light is releasing the much-anticipated update to our flagship training Stewards of Children®, this April. Read our series on the 5 Reasons Why to learn about the various enhancements we’ve made to the learning experience.
Reason #2: It Includes More Diversity of Lived Experience
Every day we deepen our learning about the issue of child sexual abuse, its prevalence, and more. In this new training you will find the most up-to-date information and statistics that help shape the way we engage prevention together.
Why Is It So Difficult to Get Accurate Data?
One thing that is evident in researching child sexual abuse is that there is not a lot of research. And what does exist varies. Most research measures the prevalence of child sexual abuse based on reported cases while most instances of child sexual abuse are not reported. Another variation is in the reporting of “contact” acts versus “non-contact acts” of child sexual abuse. And there are also so many definitions of what is “child sexual abuse.”
But as research methods evolve, as definitions are nuanced, common language is used, and thought leaders are surfacing in the research fields at institutions such as Pennsylvania State University’s Child Maltreatment Solution Network, University of New Hampshire’s Crimes Against Children Research Center, the Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and the University of Oregon Center for Prevention of Abuse and Neglect, we are able to have a better picture of the data.
What Does the Data Tell Us?
In the NEW Stewards of Children® we still use the statistic that 1 in 10 children will be sexually abused by their 18th birthday. But our statistics around peer assault is changing as is new attention to statistics related to peer-on-peer violence, online exploitation, and online exposure to sexually explicit material.
Is New Stewards of Children® Evidence Informed?
Yes! Because the NEW Stewards of Children® is based on the same 3 Empowerment Skills and 5 Steps to Protecting Children, the curriculum is still considered evidence-informed. Darkness to Light will be working with the Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health as they design a randomized control trial so that we may move our curriculum to being Evidenced-Based.
Program Evaluation
As the NEW Stewards of Children® is being introduced, we will be using several evaluation tools to assist us in the evolution of our growing curriculum suite. We will implement process evaluations within the first 6 months of the launch of the NEW Stewards of Children® and create a pre and posttest that will measure participant’s satisfaction and behavior change.
We have reached out to our partners who have implemented statewide initiatives to review what tools they are using in order to create a more cohesive evaluation tool that can provide consistent, reliable data to help all of us in our prevention efforts.
