A Study to Assess the Effect of Orientation Program with Self Safety Manual on Practices for Prevention of Sexual Abuse among Students of Selected School of Kolkata

Introduction: Sexual abuse is one of the most understudied yet highly prevalent public mental health problem in India. Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a form of child abuse in which an adult or adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Adverse childhood experience can lead to a variety of negative health outcomes, including substance abuse, depressive disorder and increased risk for attempted suicide. Children by nature are particularly susceptible to all types of abuse because of their lack of knowledge on sexual abuse and self-protection skills.Materials and Methods: Pre-Experimental (one group pre and post -test) design was used. Total 250 participants were selected from class 6th to 8th using convenient sampling technique. The study was conducted after obtaining administrative permission and informed consent. The data was collected through online Google form and pre-test was administered. The URL link of orientation program (self-safety manual with video assisted teaching) on prevention of sexual abuse was sent to all the participants. After 14th day post-test was done with same self-structured questionnaire through Google form. . The data were analysed by Mann Whitney U test, Kruskal Wallis and Wilcoxon Signed Rank test using the SPSS -20 version. Results :The study reveals that Orientation program with self -safety manual was effective in gaining knowledge and improving practices on prevention of sexual abuse among students as Wilcoxon Z value was 13.620 which was significant at (P<0.05) level. There was significant association between knowledge of students and selected demographic variables viz gender and number of sibling at (p< 0.05) level. Conclusion: Orientation program with self-safety manual on practice of prevention of sexual abuse was effective .Teaching the children about personal safety skills makes them confident and emotionally strong. This turn in decreasing the incidence of sexual abuse and reduce the lifelong psychological distress. Recommendation: Self-defense technique should be part of the curriculum in the school syllabus from pre-primary standard. Creating awareness at young age is helpful in avoiding sexual victimization.