Body Safety Training Manual (BST)
Solution types
Psychoeducation
Problems addressed
Child abuse, neglect, and/or maltreatment
Sexual violence
Effectiveness

Promising

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Promising

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Life periods served
Children (4 to 13 years)
Where the program was applied
Education establishment
Country of application
China
United States
Description

This is a study plan developed for parents and teachers to educate young children on personal safety. There are two versions of the intervention: one for parents to use at home and one for teachers to use in the classroom. They can be applied separately or combined, so that parents can teach children body safety skills to recognize, resist, and report inappropriate contact.

Impact evaluations

Impact evaluation studies have shown that the use of the Body Safety Training Workbook led to increased knowledge of sexual abuse and higher levels of personal safety skills in children, without making them fearful, and these gains were maintained after the one-month follow-up period [1] [2].
However, they had difficulty recognizing the appropriateness of certain touch requests, suggesting that this approach may have limited utility in preschoolers [1]. The studies had a randomized controlled experimental design with the participation of preschool children [1] [2].

Bibliographic reference

[1] Wurtele, S. K. (1990). Teaching personal safety skills to four-year-old children: A behavioral approach. Behavior Therapy, 21(1), 25–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0005-7894(05)80186-8

[2] Wurtele, S. K., Kast, L. C., Miller-Perrin, C. L. & Kondrick, P. A. (1989). Comparison of programs for teaching personal safety skills to preschoolers. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 57(4), 505–511. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-006X.57.4.505

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