Lennart Bayer, Maike Cigelski, Justine Eilfgang, Frieda Mensing, Harriet Sewald, Isabelle von Seeler, Simone Pülschen
{"title":"Improving Teacher Education to Adequately Deal with Child Sexual Abuse - an Exploratory Study.","authors":"Lennart Bayer, Maike Cigelski, Justine Eilfgang, Frieda Mensing, Harriet Sewald, Isabelle von Seeler, Simone Pülschen","doi":"10.1007/s40653-026-00881-8","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The prevalence of child sexual abuse (CSA) has remained consistently high for years. While children most often disclose experiences of CSA to trusted teachers than to other non-relative adults in their lives, many teachers report feeling unprepared to handle suspected CSA cases. Schools, too, note their uncertainty about whether to intervene and - when they do - which other professionals to involve at what stages of the process. Against this background, this paper aims to identify key CSA intervention training areas that can enable teachers to handle cases of suspected CSA professionally and competently. In contrast to existing research, which tends to focus exclusively on teachers, this Germany-based study draws on interviews with professionals from a wide range of institutions, including schools (<i>n</i> = 17), child protection services (<i>n</i> = 15), and law enforcement (<i>n</i> = 13). Significantly, all of the interviewees highlighted the need for improved teacher education on CSA intervention, with inter-institutional collaboration and knowledge of how to conduct an intervention being the most frequent topics of recollection among those interviewed.</p>","PeriodicalId":44763,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma","volume":"19 3","pages":"1847-1862"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2000,"publicationDate":"2026-04-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13546253/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s40653-026-00881-8","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2026/9/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"FAMILY STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The prevalence of child sexual abuse (CSA) has remained consistently high for years. While children most often disclose experiences of CSA to trusted teachers than to other non-relative adults in their lives, many teachers report feeling unprepared to handle suspected CSA cases. Schools, too, note their uncertainty about whether to intervene and - when they do - which other professionals to involve at what stages of the process. Against this background, this paper aims to identify key CSA intervention training areas that can enable teachers to handle cases of suspected CSA professionally and competently. In contrast to existing research, which tends to focus exclusively on teachers, this Germany-based study draws on interviews with professionals from a wide range of institutions, including schools (n = 17), child protection services (n = 15), and law enforcement (n = 13). Significantly, all of the interviewees highlighted the need for improved teacher education on CSA intervention, with inter-institutional collaboration and knowledge of how to conduct an intervention being the most frequent topics of recollection among those interviewed.
期刊介绍:
Underpinned by a biopsychosocial approach, the Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma presents original research and prevention and treatment strategies for understanding and dealing with symptoms and disorders related to the psychological effects of trauma experienced by children and adolescents during childhood and where the impact of these experiences continues into adulthood. The journal also examines intervention models directed toward the individual, family, and community, new theoretical models and approaches, and public policy proposals and innovations. In addition, the journal promotes rigorous investigation and debate on the human capacity for agency, resilience and longer-term healing in the face of child and adolescent trauma. With a multidisciplinary approach that draws input from the psychological, medical, social work, sociological, public health, legal and education fields, the journal features research, intervention approaches and evidence-based programs, theoretical articles, specific review articles, brief reports and case studies, and commentaries on current and/or controversial topics. The journal also encourages submissions from less heard voices, for example in terms of geography, minority status or service user perspectives.
Among the topics examined in the Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma:
The effects of childhood maltreatment
Loss, natural disasters, and political conflict
Exposure to or victimization from family or community violence
Racial, ethnic, gender, sexual orientation or class discrimination
Physical injury, diseases, and painful or debilitating medical treatments
The impact of poverty, social deprivation and inequality
Barriers and facilitators on pathways to recovery
The Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma is an important resource for practitioners, policymakers, researchers, and academics whose work is centered on children exposed to traumatic events and adults exposed to traumatic events as children.