Changing the Paradigm: CSA as a Preventable Public Health Problem

儿童性虐待（CSA）在可预防的风险因素中排名第12位，这些因素导致儿童性虐待。 美国疾病负担，折磨着高达25%的美国女孩和5%的男孩， 个人和社会的心理、社会和金钱成本。超过25 多年来，专家们呼吁采取公共卫生方法来预防CSA，但无济于事。 公共卫生预防战略已成功地应用于几乎所有类型的 虐待儿童，只有CSA例外，公众继续认为 无法预防因此，决策者继续处理CSA几乎 完全是事后的刑事司法政策， 从一开始就避免CSA的发生。根据PAR-14-324，拟议项目 汇集了一个多学科的团队，这是独特的准备改变公众舆论， 这与专家们对CSA作为一个可预防的公共卫生问题的理解是一致的。 该小组包括共同调查员和顾问，他们在CSA方面具有广泛的专业知识。 预防、政策和实践以及以公共卫生为重点的 通信研究。该项目旨在创建新的沟通策略 有效地克服差距，使公众与专家对自我评估的理解保持一致（目标1）， 严格评估这些新的传播战略（目标2），并广泛 向CSA专家和从业人员传播有效的战略， 公众和报道CSA的记者（目标3）。为了实现目标1，我们将使用 定性数据技术，以确定专家共识和公众（和从业人员） 关于CSA的意见，并进行比较分析，以确定这些意见之间的差距 这些发现将为新的CSA消息传递的开发提供信息 战略布局为了实现目标2，我们将评估初始沟通的有效性 通过访谈重新构建，然后进行全国代表性调查，以测试 影响公众舆论，然后进行后续测试，以评估耐久性 在复述过程中的重构。为了实现目标3，我们将创建在线研讨会， 网络研讨会和现场培训，通信工具包，以及 新闻记者广泛传播研究结果和有效的传播战略。 该项目将是第一个创建有效翻译的系统方法的项目。 了解CSA预防，并具有独特的潜力，以帮助实现关键的 将CSA纳入国家预防暴力工作的目标。

Child sexual abuse (CSA) ranks 12th in preventable risk factors that contribute to the U.S. burden of disease, afflicts up to 25% of U.S. girls and 5% of boys, and exacts high psychological, social, and monetary costs from individuals and society. For over 25 years, experts have called for a public health approach to prevention of CSA to no avail. Public health prevention strategies have been successfully applied to virtually all types of child maltreatment with the single exception of CSA, which the public continues to view as unpreventable. Consequently, policymakers continue to address CSA almost exclusively with after-the-fact criminal justice policies that do little if anything to prevent CSA from occurring in the first place. Consistent with PAR-14-324, the proposed project brings together a multidisciplinary team that is uniquely poised to shift public opinion so that it aligns with experts' understanding of CSA as a preventable public health problem. The team includes co-investigators and consultants with extensive expertise in CSA prevention, policy, and practice as well as experts in public health-focused communications research. This project aims to create new communication strategies that effectively overcome gaps to align public with expert understanding of CSA (Aim 1), to rigorously evaluate those new communication strategies (Aim 2), and to broadly disseminate effective strategies to the CSA experts and practitioners who interact with the public and to journalist who report on CSA (Aim 3). To accomplish Aim 1 we will use qualitative data techniques to identify the expert consensus and public (and practitioner) opinions about CSA, and comparative analyses to characterize gaps between these understandings; these findings will inform the development of new CSA messaging strategies. To accomplish Aim 2 we will evaluate the efficacy of initial communication reframes via interviews, then conduct a nationally representative survey to test how the reframes influence public opinion, then conduct follow-up tests to evaluate the durability of reframes across retellings. To accomplish Aim 3 we will created online workshops, webinar and in-person trainings, a communications toolkit, and recommendations for journalists to broadly disseminate study findings and effective communication strategies. This project will be the first to create a systematic approach for effectively translating knowledge about CSA prevention and has unique potential to help achieve the critical goal of including CSA within the nation's violence prevention efforts.