Stewards of children education: Increasing undergraduate nursing student knowledge of child sexual abuse.

BACKGROUND: Child sexual abuse and exploitation are an increasing public health problem. In spite of the fact that nurses are in a unique position to identify and intervene in the lives of children suffering from abuse due to their role in providing health care in a variety of settings, nursing curricula does not routinely include this focus.

OBJECTIVES: The goal was to document the effectiveness of the Stewards of Children child sexual abuse training as an effective educational intervention to increase the knowledge level of undergraduate nursing students on how to prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to child sexual abuse and trafficking.

DESIGN: Undergraduate nursing students were required to take the Stewards of Children training in their last semester prior to graduation.

DATA SOURCES: Students in the study were given a pre-test prior to the class and a post-test following the class.

REVIEW METHODS: Pre- and post-tests were graded and the results were compared along with an item indicating the participants' perception of the educational intervention in improving their confidence and competence in this area.

RESULTS: Data analysis revealed that post-test scores following training were significantly improved: pre-test mean=45.5%; post-test mean score=91.9%. The statistical significance of the improvement was marked, p<0.01, N=119. The mean response for the perceived values scale was 1.65 from a potential score of 2.

CONCLUSIONS: This study found a statistically significant increase in the knowledge level of undergraduate nursing students on how to prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to child sexual abuse and trafficking following the Stewards of Children training. Students also reported a high level of confidence in how to prevent abuse and react skillfully when child sexual abuse had occurred. The authors concluded that Stewards of Children is an effective option to educate nursing students on this topic.