Program Profile: Stewards of Children®

This is a child sexual abuse (CSA) prevention training program to educate adults, such as childcare professionals, to prevent, recognize, and react to CSA. The program is rated Promising. Participants who received the in-person and web-based training demonstrated a statistically significant higher level of CSA knowledge and a greater number of preventative behaviors, compared with the wait-list control group. There was no statistically significant difference found between groups in CSA attitudes.

A Promising rating implies that implementing the program may result in the intended outcome(s).

This program's rating is based on evidence that includes at least one high-quality randomized controlled trial.

Program Goals/Target Population

Stewards of Children® is an adult-focused prevention training program that centers on improving the awareness of the prevalence, consequences, and circumstances of child sexual abuse (CSA). The training aims to educate adults (primarily child care professionals) to prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to CSA. Stewards of Children® was developed by Darkness to Light (D2L), a national non-profit organization that seeks to protect children from sexual abuse.

One of the main goals of the program is primary prevention by teaching child care professionals specific strategies to prevent CSA from occurring the first time (for example, placing limits on or carefully structuring and monitoring one-on-one adult and child contact). Another goal of the training program is secondary prevention which involves teaching adults to identify when abuse is occurring and to respond to children appropriately, in order to keep them safe from future abuse and prevent potential subsequent abuse-related problems.

Program Components

The program consists of an in-person training format that involves a trained facilitator who presents the curriculum and leads discussions. During the 2-hour training, each participant receives a workbook that contains the full program curriculum. The trained facilitator uses a video, which integrates segments of CSA survivors relating their stories of abuse and recovery, with segments from professionals who have experience and knowledge about the problems related to the occurrence of CSA. The facilitator stops the video at three points and leads discussion about the concepts presented in the different segments.

The program is also available in a web-based format. The web-based version incorporates the workbook and video from the in-person training into an instructional technology system that allows individuals to learn about the concepts from the curriculum in a self-paced format. Content is delivered by text, audio, video, and animation. There are short audio/visual training segments that are supported by the text, as well as video clips of adult survivors describing their CSA experiences. Individuals respond to true-to-life scenarios in order to focus the training on their particular needs or concerns. The responses trigger alterations in the scenario options in order to create a personalized learning experience.

The program builds on “The 5 Steps to Protecting Our Children,” an education tool for CSA prevention also developed by D2L. The program not only trains adults on child protection but also assists organizations in creating individual and organizational policies and procedures in attempts to keep children safe.

Study 1

Rheingold and colleagues (2011) used a block randomization design to evaluate the impact of the Stewards of Children® training program on child care professionals’ primary and secondary prevention efforts. The study included 352 childcare professionals from different youth-serving organizations in Bend, Ore.; Atlanta, Ga.; and Beaufort, S.C. Of the 353 professionals who initially consented, 267 completed the follow-up assessment. Study participants ranged in age from 18 to 64 years and the majority was women (85 percent). A little over 65 percent of the participants were white, 28.4 percent were African American, 4.8 percent other race, and less than 2 percent were Asian/Pacific Islander or American Indian/Alaskan Native. About 5.5 percent indicated they were Hispanic. There were no significant differences between the study groups on demographic characteristics.

After study participants consented, they were randomly assigned to one of three conditions using a permutated block design with block sizes of 3, 6, and 9. 1) the in-person Stewards of Children® treatment group (n = 116); 2) the web-based Stewards of Children® treatment group (n = 116); or 3) the no-training wait-list control group (n = 117). The CrimeSolutions review of this study focused on the differences between the two treatment groups combined and the wait-list control group.

Self-report measures were collected by the site coordinators. Study participants were asked to complete the primary dependent measures at post-training and at the 3-month follow-up assessment points. Baseline assessment of the dependent variables (i.e., measures given prior to the training) was not included in this study design in order to decrease the possible attentional bias to the content of the trainings. The primary dependent variables included measures of child sexual abuse (CSA) knowledge, attitudes, and prevention behaviors. CSA knowledge was measured using the CSA Knowledge Questionnaire, which was created for this study and included 12 true/false questions about CSA. CSA attitudes were measured using the CSA Myth Scale (Collings 1997). Finally, CSA prevention behaviors were measured using 21 retrospective questions about CSA prevention behaviors in the past 3 months (such as whether the participant engaged in primary prevention behaviors at work or talked to a child about CSA).

Repeated measures of analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to detect differences in the dependent variables across the study groups as well as across the two time periods (post-training assessment and 3-month follow-up assessment). Subgroup analyses were conducted to determine the difference between the in-person and web-based treatment groups.

Authorized Facilitators are trained by Darkness to Light to deliver the Stewards of Children® training program. To become an Authorized Facilitator, individuals must attend the Facilitator Workshop. The workshop costs $450 and includes: (1) 8 hours of instruction; (2) instruction on the philosophy and purpose of the Stewards of Children® curriculum; and (3) all training materials including a Facilitator Manual, Guide, and Script, a Stewards of Children® workbook for the facilitator, USB, and 10 additional Stewards of Children® workbooks for your first training(s). Additional information is available online.

Subgroup Analysis

Rheingold and colleagues (2011) conducted subgroup analyses to determine differences between the in-person and web-based Stewards of Children® treatment groups. There was no statistically significant difference found between the in-person treatment group and web-based treatment group in child sexual abuse (CSA) knowledge, attitudes, or preventative behaviors.

These sources were used in the development of the program profile:

These sources were used in the development of the program profile: