Evaluation of the effectiveness of Project Trust: an elementary school-based victimization prevention strategy

Child Abuse Negl. 1996 Sep;20(9):821-32. doi: 10.1016/0145-2134(96)00070-1.

Abstract

This study employed a Posttest-Only Control Group Design to assess the effects of a victimization prevention program, Project TRUST, on elementary school students' knowledge of general prevention concepts, knowledge of difficult-to-acquire prevention concepts, anxiety, and reporting of abuse. A selected subgroup of experimental subjects was also assessed for retention of acquired concepts over time. Students exposed to Project TRUST demonstrated significantly greater knowledge of maltreatment prevention information, as well as difficult-to-acquire concepts, than control group students. A 3-month delayed reassessment of the experimental subgroup showed no loss in acquired prevention information. No differences in anxiety scores existed between experimental and control groups. First-time student abuse disclosures were greater in the experimental than in the control group. These findings support the effectiveness of Project TRUST as a strategy to increase prevention knowledge and generate abuse disclosures without creating student anxiety.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial
  • Controlled Clinical Trial
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Analysis of Variance
  • Anxiety / etiology
  • Child
  • Child Abuse / prevention & control*
  • Crime Victims / education*
  • Crime Victims / psychology
  • Drama
  • Female
  • Follow-Up Studies
  • Health Education / methods*
  • Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Sampling Studies
  • Self Disclosure