‘Protect Our Children’ System-Level Impacts: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse in Rural Populations

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a public health issue that may have a disproportionate impact on children in rural areas due to lack of resources, lack of knowledge in the community and community norms that discourage reporting. In order to effectively prevent CSA in rural communities, there is a need to better understand the impact of prevention programming outside of the impacts on individual participants. The present study used a mixed-methods approach to evaluate the unintended impacts of a CSA prevention program in rural communities throughout Oregon and Northern California from the perspective of the implementing staff. Participants (n = 38) indicated changes in their organisational identity, changes in community norms and the impact of having a network of other organisations across the state who were implementing the same program. Implications for research and potential for statewide prevention systems are discussed.