@article{ref1,
title="Capacity, confidence and training of Canadian educators and school staff to recognize and respond to sexual abuse and internet exploitation of their students",
journal="Child abuse and neglect",
year="2020",
author="Lindenbach, David and Cullen, Olivia and Bhattarai, Asmita and Perry, Rosemary and Diaz, Ruth L. and Patten, Scott B. and Dimitropoulos, Gina",
volume="112",
number="",
pages="e104898-e104898",
abstract="BACKGROUND: Sexual exploitation of children online is an issue of growing public concern. This form of exploitation typically involves adults using the internet to  communicate with children for sexual purposes or to distribute sexually explicit  material involving children. To date, there is no research on the knowledge and  skills of educators to recognize online sexual exploitation. This research is  urgently needed since educators are well-positioned to detect, identify and report  sexual exploitation of their students. <br><br>OBJECTIVE: The study was conducted to  understand the confidence and capacity of grade school educators to recognize and  respond to online child sexual exploitation. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: This  cross-sectional study surveyed 450 educators in Alberta, Canada between April and  December 2018. <br><br>METHODS: Vignettes were used to obtain experiences and attitudes  surrounding four categories of exploitation or abuse: grooming, luring, sexual  abuse, and sexual abuse imagery (also known as child pornography). <br><br>RESULTS: Among  school district staff, 28 % reported working with a student affected by sexual abuse  in the last year, as compared to 25 % for grooming, 17 % for luring and 14 % for  sexual abuse imagery. A minority of respondents expressed confidence in their  ability to recognize if the internet was being employed for grooming (35 % of  staff), luring (46 %) or sexual abuse (45 %) of their students. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS:  Educators encounter issues of online sexual exploitation of their students almost as  often as contact sexual abuse. Child protection efforts in schools should be  modernized to incorporate training in online safety of children and adolescents.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0145-2134",
doi="10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104898",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104898"
}