Rigorous Evaluation of the READY to Stand Curriculum as a Tool to Prevent the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children Among Racially and Ethnically Diverse Urban Youth

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Project Summary The commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is a public health crisis in the U.S. To date, however, we know little about how to prevent CSEC. The Set Me Free Project has developed the READY to Stand (RTS) curriculum consisting of four, 45-minute modules implemented to high school students and school personnel. The dynamic RTS provides students with psychoeducation on CSEC, healthy relationship skills training, identification of safe people and resources, and programming components to enhance valuing of self and others. As part of the proposed project, the RTS will be enhanced with two additional 45-minute modules that focus on bystander intervention training in situations of CSEC and shifting school and community norms to be intolerant of all forms of violence, including CSEC. Despite its potential for reducing CSEC, the RTS has never been evaluated. The overarching goal of this multi-stakeholder collaboration, including researchers, educators, practitioners, and youth, is to conduct both a process and rigorous outcome evaluation of the RTS with an eye toward widespread dissemination to other communities in the U.S., if deemed effective. The implementation site includes five traditional three alternative high schools in Des Moines Public Schools (DMPS); students are largely racial/ethnic minority (65%) and low-income (76%). Component A (Years 1-2), the refinement and planning phase, includes the creation of a Research Advisory Board (RAB) comprised of researchers, practitioners, educators, caregivers, and youth; development of the two supplemental 45-minute modules on bystander intervention and social norms for the RTS (student version) and enhancement of the 90- minute RTS for school personnel version; creation of psychometrically validated survey instruments to measure CSEC perpetration and victimization and related CSEC constructs; and the conduction of an open pilot trial of the RTS with one traditional high school and one alternative high school in DMPS (n=878 students; n=78 school personnel). Component B (Years 3-5) comprises the rigorous evaluation phase and includes a quasi-experimental study in which the remaining four traditional high schools and two alternative schools are randomly assigned to the treatment or wait-list control conditions. Students (n=7,241) will complete baseline and 6-, 12-, and 18-month follow-up surveys to test the hypothesis that participation in the RTS will lead to reductions in CSEC perpetration (primary outcome) as well as reductions in CSEC victimization and teen dating violence and sexual assault victimization and perpetration and increases in bystander intervention in CSEC situations (secondary outcomes). We will assess mediators (e.g., increases in CSEC knowledge, CSEC bystander efficacy) and demographic moderators of program impact and conduct an in-depth process evaluation that includes data from both students (n=7,241) and school personnel (n=396). This study represents the first ever rigorous evaluation of a CSEC prevention program. Findings from both Components A and B will be widely disseminated to diverse audiences with RAB engagement.