Joan Tabachnick

This chapter will highlight research and practice internationally on ways to educate the public regarding sex abuse and how successful they have been. The chapter will cover issues including the relationship between experts and the public, public criminology, media narratives as well as engagement and political positions, and debates, on this topic. The chapter will highlight ways in which society has tried to engage on the topic of sexual harm (including, bystander intervention, government programmes and grass root drives like reclaim the night) and how successful they have been academically, socially and politically. The chapter will end with a discussion of the current state of research and evaluation on this topic and were to go next.

principle information and resource center regarding all aspects of sexual violence. The NSVRC provides national leadership in the anti-sexual violence movement by generating and facilitating the development and flow of information on sexual violence intervention and prevention strategies. The NSVRC’s work is supported in large part with funds from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). www.nsvrc.org

Recent years have seen growing public interest in how college and university administrators respond to sexual misconduct. Despite policy changes in this area, minimal research exists on how institutions of higher education (IHEs) are sharing and processing information about students found responsible for sexual misconduct. Aiming to establish some of the key questions and parameters in this line of research, this practitioner–researcher collaboration offers a first look at how IHEs share information about students who have been found responsible both within their campus and between campuses, as well as how IHEs respond when that information is shared (e.g., admitting a student applicant who has been previously sanctioned for a sexual misconduct violation). Practitioners designed and disseminated a questionnaire to campus administrators, including Title IX coordinators and student conduct administrators, via higher education association listservs. Exploratory results from 176 partici...

We want to expand our readership, and we need your help. If you have found these newsletters helpful, would you consider forwarding this issue to a friend or colleague? Colleagues can sign up to receive future issues of the newsletter at www.neari.com/mailing.html. Feel free to view the previous issues on our website at www.neari.com/trainingcenter/newsletter.html. As you know, this newsletter is free. Our goal is to educate professionals and eventually the public about the unique art and technique of working with children and adolescents who have exhibited sexual behavior problems. We hope that by bringing these issues forward we may be able to more clearly differentiate this population from the adult sex offenders portrayed so often in the media.

Anyone who works with children or adolescents understands they learn and absorb information in different ways. Yet, for years, our field used mostly talk therapy to work through deeply traumatic events of sexual abuse. This article shows how a non-verbal technique, trauma-informed yoga, significantly reduced the symptoms associated with PTSD. Yoga helps individuals tolerate physical and sensory experiences associated with fear and helplessness and increase their emotional awareness. Both experiences are key to successful PTSD treatment.

Abstract This article explores current societal framings and understandings of sexual violence, particularly child sexual abuse. The article starts by explaining how societal perceptions of child sexual abuse are formed through implicit and explicit theories, followed by a brief examination of media, professional and public understandings of child sexual abuse. This is then compared to research-based knowledge on sexual violence and child sexual abuse in particular. A public health approach is presented as a critical way of engaging communities, publics and society in an informed discourse about child sexual abuse, with a view to increasing both understanding and engagement. Finally, the article will posit the hypothesis that with recent news stories, such as the Jimmy Savile case in the UK and the Penn State case in the USA, organisations and individuals are beginning to ask for more information, trying to ask harder questions and this presents a unique opportunity to fully engage with the emerging public health approach of change.

This exploratory study investigates knowledge and ideas about child sexual abuse among African Americans and Latinos through focus group discussions. Participants defined and described child sexual abuse, acknowledged that it occurred in their communities, and expressed their sense that family risk factors, risky institutions, and offender propensities were its root causes. Latino participants identified cultural transitions as another contributor. Responses and conversational style differed somewhat by gender and cultural identity. The authors discuss implications for child sexual abuse prevention, intervention, and research.

3To whom correspondence should be addressed. A half-million children are believed to be sexually abused each year in the United States. In 1995, the American Medical Association declared sexual assault "a silent violent epidemic. " The majority of efforts to stop child sexual abuse have focused on punishing abusers and treating victims and their families; prevention programs are uncommon and rely on educating children to report sexual abuse. This case study describes the evaluation of the first public health campaign designed to target adults for prevention. A baseline assessment of attitudes, awareness, knowl-edge, and policies was conducted in Vermont to identify facilitators and barriers to adult prevention of child sexual abuse. These included predisposing factors (50% of vermont residents did not know the characteristics of an abuser), enabling fac-tors (60 % of Vermont residents did not know where to refer someone who may have sexual behavior problems), and reinforci...

This project was made possible through a generous grant from the Ms. Foundation for Women. We would like to thank them for their support and for their foundation’s long-standing investment in preventing the sexual abuse of children. This report would not have been possible without the solid project management skills, the incredible editing, and the insightful direction and comments provided by Maia Christopher, Executive Director of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers. The authors send Maia a deep and heartfelt thank you for everything she invested to make this happen. The authors would also like to thank the many readers of this paper. From within ATSA, the Executive Committee reviewed the paper and provided invaluable feedback. This project also provided an opportunity to reach out to colleagues who represent key areas of expertise. We thank these

principle information and resource center regarding all aspects of sexual violence. The NSVRC provides national leadership in the anti-sexual violence movement by generating and facilitating the development and flow of information on sexual violence intervention and prevention strategies. The NSVRC’s work is supported in large part with funds from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). www.nsvrc.org

principle information and resource center regarding all aspects of sexual violence. The NSVRC provides national leadership in the anti-sexual violence movement by generating and facilitating the development and flow of information on sexual violence intervention and prevention strategies. The NSVRC’s work is supported in large part with funds from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). www.nsvrc.org

This project was made possible through a generous grant from the Ms. Foundation for Women. We would like to thank them for their support and for their foundation’s long-standing investment in preventing the sexual abuse of children. This report would not have been possible without the solid project management skills, the incredible editing, and the insightful direction and comments provided by Maia Christopher, Executive Director of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers. The authors send Maia a deep and heartfelt thank you for everything she invested to make this happen. The authors would also like to thank the many readers of this paper. From within ATSA, the Executive Committee reviewed the paper and provided invaluable feedback. This project also provided an opportunity to reach out to colleagues who represent key areas of expertise. We thank these

This chapter will highlight research and practice internationally on ways to educate the public regarding sex abuse and how successful they have been. The chapter will cover issues including the relationship between experts and the public, public criminology, media narratives as well as engagement and political positions, and debates, on this topic. It will highlight the ways in which society has tried to engage with the topic of sexual harm (including bystander intervention, government programmes and grassroots drives, such as Reclaim the Night) and assess how successful they have been academically, socially and politically. The chapter will end with a discussion of the current state of research and evaluation on this topic and where we might go next.

This report provides an overview of the work ASTHO, in collaboration with CDC and the Safe States Alliance, completed over the past two years to enhance the public health infrastructure to prevent sexual violence and strengthen health agency leadership’s role in elevating sexual violence prevention as a national public health issue. Most of the work focused on ASTHO’s systems change approach, particularly the levers of data, policy, financing, and partnerships. ASTHO chose to highlight these four levers because they have been shown to be necessary components, as identified in literature and practice, for successful public health system functioning.

: A 3.2-ha diked dredged material disposal site was constructed in 1975 on Nott Island in the Connecticut River, 11 km upriver from Long Island Sound. It was filled with sandy dredged material, top-dressed with finer sediments, and experimentally treated and planted with legumes and grasses. Monitoring of the planted vegetation and wildlife response to the vegetation during the 1977 growing season is reported. (Author)

This study examines data from Stop It Now!’s Helpline in the United States primarily over a 5-year, 3-month period and offers insights into the needs of individuals and families confronting issues related to child sexual abuse (CSA). Stop It Now!’s Helpline serves the global community by providing support, information, and guidance to those in need, such as helping to identify and respond to warning signs of sexually abusive behaviors in adults, adolescents, or children. More than 7,000 ( N = 7,122) nonidentifiable user records are the subject of this inquiry and reflect individuals who contacted the Helpline between December 1, 2012, and March 7, 2018. The article also places this analysis in a larger context through an overview that includes total user count of this service since its inception in 1995 ( N = 21,030). Descriptive statistics revealed that the majority of Helpline users identified as bystanders, family members, or friends/acquaintances of an individual at risk to abus...

A half-million children are believed to be sexually abused each year in the United States. In 1995, the American Medical Association declared sexual assault “a silent violent epidemic.” The majority of efforts to stop child sexual abuse have focused on punishing abusers and treating victims and their families; prevention programs are uncommon and rely on educating children to report sexual abuse. This case study describes the evaluation of the first public health campaign designed to target adults for prevention. A baseline assessment of attitudes, awareness, knowledge, and policies was conducted in Vermont to identify facilitators and barriers to adult prevention of child sexual abuse. These included predisposing factors (50% of Vermont residents did not know the characteristics of an abuser), enabling factors (60% of Vermont residents did not know where to refer someone who may have sexual behavior problems), and reinforcing factors (when focus group participants knew an abuser, they were less likely to take action). This process guided the intervention, which included a broad-based media campaign targeting adults; a one-to-one communications strategy that provided information to agencies working with families at risk and a toll-free helpline for adults in an abuse situation; and a systems change strategy designed to educate decision-makers and leaders. Program evaluation measures included a random-digit dial survey, focus groups, a survey of Vermont decision-makers, and other data sets. The successes and limitations of these interventions, both as strategies in themselves and as data sources for evaluation, are discussed.