1 How can school help victims of violence? Evaluation of online training for European schools’ staff from a multidisciplinary approach Assessment of an online training about child victimization Ana M. Greco1*, Carla González Pío1, Marina Bartolomé1, Noemí Pereda1 11Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain 2* Correspondence: 3Ana Martina Greco, Departament de Psicologia Social i Psicologia Quantitativa, Facultat de 4Psicologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, 08035, Spain [email protected] 6 2 Training school staff in victimization 7Abstract 8The interventions used to prevent or treat violence against children, particularly sexual abuse, tend to 9only consider the target audience as their main source of data. We tested the effect of an online 10training for school staff members in Europe through three studies. In Study I, we interviewed 5 adult 11women (Mage = 49.2, SD = 5.81) who were victims of sexual abuse during childhood to assess what 12school could have done during that time to protect them. Through Study II, we collected data on 66 13school staff members to assess feasibility (based on quantitative indicators) and to explore the 14changes they would make to their everyday practice due to the training course (using qualitative 15analysis). In Study III, we used network analysis to assess to what extent the actions described by 16school staff in Study II met the needs expressed by the victims in Study I. Findings of Study I 17revealed new proposals from the victims’ perspective, such as working with the perpetrators. Study II 18showed the feasibility of training and identified five types of action that school staff members will 19include in their everyday working dynamics due to the training: detection (e.g., Greater attention to 20relationships with peers), reporting (e.g., Now I know that suspecting a case of child abuse is enough 21to report), everyday practices (e.g., Introducing a calming space), changes at school level (e.g., 22Propose the training course to the school management team) or practices that could belong to more 23than one category (e.g., Greater awareness of the activities undertaken by the school). Study III 24provided evidence that some of these changes (e.g., reporting without looking for proof) were in line 25with some of the victims’ expectations (e.g., listen to the children). We also identified gaps that need 26to be further developed. 27Keywords: victimization, violence, children, school, report 28INTRODUCTION 3 2 4 Training school staff in victimization 29Scientific research suggests that children and adolescents are vulnerable to the same forms of 30victimization as adults and other forms that are specific to their age group [1]. Many studies proved 31the high prevalence of various types of violence against children globally [2, 3, 4, 5, 6], and their 32devastating effects on victims across their lifespan [7, 8] and on society as a whole [9, 10, 11]. In 33Europe, the median rates of types of violence against children range from 6.2% (sexual abuse of 34boys) to 27.0% (emotional abuse of girls) [12]. 35Multiple studies suggest that suffering victimization in these evolutionary stages is related to 36difficulties in interpersonal relationships [13] and a poorer level of well-being and psychological 37health, such as behavioural or emotional problems [14]. It also appears to have a negative impact on 38the academic environment. In a meta-analysis of 30 studies on the behaviour exhibited by children 39experiencing neglect or emotional abuse, 12 showed cognition and academic differences in 40performance among children who had been neglected and/or emotionally abused in comparison to 41their counterparts who were not exposed to violence [15]. In addition, a relationship was found with 42low general intelligence and a worse performance in literacy and arithmetic skills. In a study with 435,930 participants between 12–18 years of age, those who had experienced victimization on a regular 44basis were at greater risk of having lower academic performance, which was partially mediated by 45absenteeism [16]. In addition, systematic reviews and meta-analyses of 67 and 43 studies respectively 46showed that all forms of violence in childhood have a significant impact on educational outcomes. 47Victims seem to be less likely to graduate from high school than students who never experience 48violence. Males who are bullied are nearly three times more likely to be absent from school than 49those who are not. Girls who have experienced sexual violence have a three-fold increased risk of 50being absent and present lower academic achievement on standardized tests than girls who have 51never been through this kind of experience [10]. Although all these effects could also be warning 52signs for school staff, prevention, detection and intervention when children may be at risk of violence 53is still very challenging in this environment [17, 11, 18]. Despite a considerable proportion of school 5 3 6 Training school staff in victimization 54staff detecting potential cases of violence [19, 20], most of these concerns are never reported to 55external agencies [21, 22]. As a result, victims do not receive specialized help and support [23, 17] or 56do not disclose their experiences [24]. Many reasons for this behaviour have been described by 57previous studies, such as low levels of knowledge or poor training, fear of the consequences for the 58victim, the family, the reporter and the school or lack of support from the school management team 59[25, 26, 27, 28]. 60The relevance of prevention has been outlined, since everyday school actions other than reporting 61seem to make victims feel safe at school and encourage them to talk about their issues [29]. Caring 62about students’ well-being and mental health, creating a school environment that is safe and 63trustworthy or taking time with each student to discuss emotions or provide strategies to foster 64resilience and post-traumatic growth are a few strategies that seem to work effectively and are 65usually embraced by trauma-sensitive schools [30, 31, 32]. Interventions that have been tested in this 66approach have promising effects in terms of improvements in school adjustment and in mental health 67outcomes [33] and the reduction of violent experiences [34]. Some studies have also found that 68training teachers in the prevention of child victimization enables students to progress in learning [35] 69and benefits the early learning skills of children and adolescents, improving the quality of the school 70environment [36]. 71Finally, some studies have shown the importance of considering the voice of the victims [34, 37, 38] 72to take into account their needs, as they must be tailored to suit their individual situations [23, 17] in 73the violence prevention programmes and the promotion of resilience practices at schools [38]. This 74seems to be particularly true for victims of sexual abuse. Reasons for not disclosing this experience 75include personal factors related to the victim and the established dynamic with the abuser and, most 76importantly, factors related to the social reaction to the experience of sexual abuse [39]. Various 77studies confirm that this type of violence seems to elicit negative reactions among people who 78receive the disclosures, such as blaming or disbelieving the victim [40, 41, 42]. This tends to have 7 4 8 Training school staff in victimization 79deep negative effects on the mental health of the victims who dare to disclose the abuse [43] and can 80lead to a harder healing process in adulthood [44]. Fear to these reactions is probably the reason why 81most victims tend to keep silent during childhood [45, 46], what makes sexual abuse still one of the 82least officially reported types of violence against children in Europe [47, 48]. A critical review on 83social reactions to child sexual abuse disclosures [49] concludes that a large group of victims will not 84be able to explain the abuse to anyone in their lifetime. 85Considering studies reporting that school staff lack training to prevent, detect and intervene 86effectively when faced with victimization in children and adolescents [50, 51,52] and in light of the 87positive effects found in studies testing programmes including the victim’s voice [37, 38] or the 88trauma-sensitive approach [34, 33], the current research presents and tests a new online intervention: 89Schools Against Victimization from an Early Age (SAVE) through an innovative methodology. 90SAVE’s main objective is to develop education staff’s skills to support and protect children who 91have experienced some form of violence in Europe. As it was conceived to address the entire 92European region, SAVE was created by five expert partner institutions from countries representing 93different European backgrounds (i.e., Eastern, Mediterranean, and Western Europe). SAVE is an 94online course that includes information about prevalence, signs, reporting procedures and other 95actions to prevent, detect and report potential cases of child sexual abuse, maltreatment and bullying. 96It also proposes a module about resilience and additional material to use in school. SAVE has been 97funded by the European Union through its Erasmus+ programme, is entirely free, open access and 98available in five European languages at https://saveprogramme.eu/. 99 Given the lack of programmes with SAVE’s characteristics and the previously reviewed evidence, 100the aims of the present study were: 101 1. To explore how victims of sexual abuse during childhood remember the school’s role in their 102 lives at the time, to try to find out what helped them and what made it harder for them. 9 5 10 Training school staff in victimization 103 2. To assess the potential of the SAVE course at European level through the feedback given by 104 school staff members and victims of child sexual abuse. 105 a. To assess schools’ potential in the prevention, detection and reporting of child 106 victimization through changes that the staff of educational centres would include in 107 their everyday practice as a result of the course.