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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Joan L. Tabachnick, MBA1, Judy Berkowitz, PhD2, Eben Ingram, PhD3, Tom Chapel, PhD3, Angela Banks, MPH3, Amy E. Chadwick, MA4, and Evan Smith, MSW5. (1) STOP IT NOW!, PO Box 495, Haydenville, MA 01060, (2) ORC Macro, 3 Corporate Square, Suite 370, Atlanta, GA 30329, (3) Division of Violence Prevention, Program Development and Evaluation Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Highway, NE, K60, Atlanta, GA 30341, (4) Macro International Inc, 3 Corporate Square, Suite 370, Atlanta, GA 30329, (5) Joseph J Peters Institute, 260 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102, 215-965-2357, jtab@stopitnow.com
Estimates are that one in four to five girls and one in seven to ten boys have been sexually abused before the age of eighteen. Experts in the field of prevention agree that sex abusers and people at risk for abusing can and will stop their harmful actions if they are reached and receive proper treatment. STOP IT NOW! uses a multi-faceted social marketing campaign to create a primary and secondary prevention approach to child sexual abuse by: developing awareness in people at risk for sexually abusing; providing mechanisms to encourage abusers to stop the abuse, voluntarily surrender to the law enforcement, and seek treatment; working with families, peers, and friends on how to talk with people at risk for abusing; and changing institutional norms and practices in the legal, law enforcement, child protection, and treatment communities.
This session presents the results of the baseline survey of STOP IT NOW’s social marketing campaign in Philadelphia, PA. Through a unique partnership between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a private consulting firm, and a number of nonprofit community organizations, the data collected has played an important role in developing appropriate campaign elements to support a more educated and motivated public. Key findings include: 1) Awareness of child sexual abuse in Philadelphia is high and exceeds the national average, 2) Philadelphia residents do not recognize descriptions of sexual abuse as definitely abuse and are less likely to report when they are unsure it is abuse, and 3) Campaigns can improve prevention efforts by focusing on improving skills in adults.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Sexual Risk Behavior, Evaluation
Related Web page: www.stopitnow.org
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.