Best practice for parent-focused child sexual abuse prevention education in early childhood
In-house research
The Australian child sexual abuse attitudes, knowledge and response study
- Community awareness
Project Team
- Professor Andrea de Silva
- Dr Amanda Robertson
- Dr Natalia Krzyzaniak
- Dr Peter Kremer
- Ms Rani Kumar
- Dr Roar Murphy
- Dr Aida Ghalebeigi
- Ms Stephanie Guy
- Isabel McPherson
Background and Aim
This study will address key gaps in our understanding of individual community members’ attitudes towards, knowledge of, and capacity to respond in relation to child sexual abuse, victims and survivors’ needs and harmful sexual behaviours (HSB) in children and young people.
The aim of this study is to:
- benchmark Australians’ attitudes towards, knowledge of, and capacity to respond to child sexual abuse (including HSB in children and young people) and meet victims and survivors’ needs
- develop a theory of change to inform the design of initiatives that lead to change
- collect baseline measurement of community knowledge and attitudes required to measure the effectiveness of community awareness and stigma reduction initiatives.
Methods
This study is a multi-phased study, conducted across two phases:
- Phase 1: Periodic population survey (n=3,000) – wave 1 (2023)
- Phase 2: Periodic population survey (n=3,000) – wave 2 (2025/2026)
The multi-wave design enables the National Centre to build an evolving evidence base on community knowledge, attitudes and responses to child sexual abuse. Findings will support knowledge mobilisation, policy development, public education and prevention initiatives by identifying areas of community understanding, uncertainty and change over time.Â
In the media
Read our article New research shows problematic community attitudes allow child sexual abuse to continue in The Conversation.
Latest research outcomes
Top line findings
The Australian child sexual abuse attitudes, knowledge and response study
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Executive summary
The Australian child sexual abuse attitudes, knowledge and response study
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Insight – Why Attitudes Matter
The Australian child sexual abuse attitudes, knowledge and response study
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Infographic 1
Responding to adult victims and survivors of child sexual abuse
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Infographic 2
Children’s disclosures: Adults’ ability to detect and respond to child sexual abuse
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Infographic 3
Prevention: Keeping children safe from sexual abuse
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