Vivências que Transformam: proposição e evidências de um programa de intervenção com professores para o enfrentamento do abuso sexual contra crianças e adolescentes

Abstract

Sexual abuse is understood as a complex and multi-determined phenomenon, sustained and reproduced by beliefs that tolerate or legitimize it, as well as by social images about its perpetrators and victims. Thus, it is emphasized that confronting sexual abuse involves destabilizing these beliefs and social images, considering the fundamental role of teachers and schools in the support and protection network for children and adolescents. In this sense, the objective of this thesis was to develop, implement and evaluate the effects, feasibility and acceptability of an intervention program aimed at teachers on beliefs related to sexual abuse against children and adolescents, as well as the images attributed to perpetrators and victims. For this, four independent but interrelated studies were conducted. The first study aimed to analyze the beliefs that the teachers participating in the research have about sexual abuse against children and adolescents and their relationship with the variables studied. For this, a descriptive-exploratory study was conducted with the participation of 105 teachers, with whom two instruments were used, a characterization form and the ECAS scale. Statistical analysis using the Chi-Square Test revealed a significant association between the variables gender and having suffered sexual abuse (χ²=0.05), indicating that women are more likely to report this type of experience compared to men. The results also indicated the frequency (14%) of the “neither disagree nor agree” regarding the perpetrator of the aggression demonstrates a worrying position of neutrality. The second study aimed to analyze the social images attributed by elementary school teachers to children and adolescents who are victims of sexual abuse, as well as to the perpetrators of this form of violence. The same teachers who participated in the first study also participated in the second, responding to another instrument, but specifically about social images. The frequencies were: sad (45) to the image of the child victim of sexual abuse, and the image of aggressive to the adolescent victim of sexual abuse (31), corroborating the negative image found in studies about adolescents in institutional care. As for the perpetrator of sexual abuse, the image had the meaning of dissimulation (33), violence (21) and manipulation (19). Thus, the third study was constructed, which aimed to develop an intervention program with teachers in order to contribute to the confrontation of sexual abuse against children and adolescents. The program “Experiences that Transform” was thus developed. The detailed proposal of the program highlights the commitment to provide support so that it can be replicated in different school contexts and different regions. The last study sought evidence of the effects, viability and acceptability of the program based on the analyses of the constructs beliefs and social images through the results of the instruments before, after the intervention and follow-up with the experimental group and control group. The results indicated that the program had a positive impact on the participants’ perception, and it is possible to assume that the differences found in the experimental group can be attributed to participation in the proposed program. The Chi-Square Test demonstrated statistical significance of changes in responses over time. Standing out in the experimental group, there was a significant change in responses related to P1, with (p=0.007) about abusers being different from normal people, with (30%) of the participants totally disagreeing before the intervention, increasing to (70%) after, and remaining at (65%) at follow-up. Another result that deserves to be highlighted concerns the accountability of adolescent victims, before the intervention, (63%) totally disagreed, after (81%) and at follow-up (92%). The effect of the intervention seems to be more notable in some items such as P1 and P7, while in others the intervention did not cause significant changes. Furthermore, the teachers demonstrated high acceptability and adherence, with no dropouts recorded. Given these findings, it is considered that the intervention program proposed in this thesis can contribute to the formation of public policies aimed at preventing and addressing sexual abuse against children and adolescents. It is a low-cost program, capable of being applied in different contexts, which can favor the construction of a safer environment that is conducive to the healthy development of children and adolescents.