The Role of Second Step Child Protection Unit Online Teacher Training in Explaining Teacher and Student Outcomes: Multilevel SEM Analysis

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a concern given its prevalence and harmful consequences such as depression, anxiety, substance misuse, and low academic performance, which pose great threats to children’s sustainable development. In response, teachers must be empowered to play crucial roles in preventing CSA and intervening to avert CSA-related harm. We therefore explored the potential for online teacher training to improve teachers’ preventive outcomes of CSA (awareness, commitment, and confidence in reporting) and student outcomes (CSA knowledge and ability to recognize, refuse, and report CSA). To assess the immediate effect of online teaching training, we analyzed pre-and post-test data from the implementation of the Second Step Child Protection Unit (CPU) on 131 teachers and 2,172 students using a multilevel structural equation modeling approach. We found a significant direct effect of online teacher training on improving teachers’ preventive outcomes. Furthermore, we detected a significant indirect effect of online teacher training on children’s preventive outcomes of CSA knowledge and ability to recognize, refuse, and report CSA via teachers’ preventive outcomes of CSA awareness.