Understanding Sexually Abused Children

This course provides a foundational and trauma-informed understanding of children who have experienced sexual abuse. Participants will examine how sexual trauma impacts a child’s emotional development, behavior, sense of safety, and ability to trust.

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Focus of the Comprehensive Training

This training focuses on strengthening professional awareness, empathy, and skill in responding to children with sexual trauma histories. Participants will gain practical tools to support children in ways that prioritize their dignity, agency, safety, and resilience.

Course curriculum

    1. Course Overview and Course Objectives

    1. Definition(s) of child sexual abuse (CSA) – what constitutes it; variations in definitions.

    2. Prevalence estimates, methodological issues (response bias, measurement, age, gender differences)

    3. Global and national figures and variations by age, gender, context

    4. Key research findings on scope and limitations of data

    5. Discussion: Why accurate prevalence matters for policy and practice

    1. Risk factors associated with higher likelihood of CSA

    2. Protective factors and resilience in children

    3. The role of context intrafamilial vs extrafamilial abuse; peer-perpetrated abuse

    1. Short-term effects trauma symptoms, behavioural problems, self-esteem issues

    2. Long-term outcomes mental health, physical health, relational functioning

    3. Moderating/mediating factors severity, duration, relationship to perpetrator, maternal support

    4. How to avoid over-generalisation and avoid pathologising children

    1. The process of disclosure when, how and why children disclose or don’t

    2. Barriers to disclosure: shame, fear, relationship to perpetrator and lack of adult recognition

    3. The role of memory and meaning-making: research on how adult survivors come to understand their childhood sexual abuse

    4. Implications for practitioners: how to foster safe disclosure, how to respond when a child does not disclose or minimises

    1. Assessment considerations: gathering history carefully, trauma‐informed interview techniques, recognising internalising and externalising behaviours

    2. Intervention evidence: What works? Review of reviews on assessment and intervention with children and young people who experienced CSA

    3. Preventive strategies and risk reduction for parents/guardians

    4. Case planning: integrating assessment findings to intervention design

    5. Ethics and culturally responsive practice

About this course

  • $12.00
  • 35 lessons
  • 2 hours of video content

Course Target

Participants will be able to:

Explain definitions and prevalence of child sexual abuse (CSA).

Explain definitions and prevalence of child sexual abuse (CSA).

Learners will understand what constitutes CSA and examine how often it occurs across different populations, contexts, and reporting systems.

Identify key risk and protective factors for children and families.

Identify key risk and protective factors for children and families.

Learners will explore conditions that increase vulnerability to CSA as well as factors that reduce risk and support safety.

Describe the short- and long-term impact of CSA on children.

Describe the short- and long-term impact of CSA on children.

Learners will identify how CSA affects a child’s emotions, behavior, health, attachment patterns, and developmental trajectory over time.

Take the first step toward becoming a more informed, compassionate, and effective advocate for children in your care.

Every interaction with a child impacted by sexual abuse can either support healing or reinforce trauma. By completing this course, you will be prepared to respond thoughtfully, ethically, and effectively—helping children reclaim safety, empowerment, and trust in adults.

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