Child sexual abuse prevention goes online: Introducing “Cool and Safe” and its effects

Due to the high prevalence and serious consequences of child sexual abuse, various preventive efforts were developed in the last years. The present contribution introduces a newly developed web-based training aiming at the prevention of child sexual abuse and describes the results of the first evaluation of “Cool and Safe”. In the study children were asked about their knowledge, behavioral intentions, emotional awareness, and anxiety before and after participating in “Cool and Safe”. Results showed that the training improves knowledge and trains secure behavioral strategies. Moreover, a decrease in the hiding of emotions for children who participated in the training in comparison to a control group was found. No increase in anxiety could be detected. With respect to the acceptance of the prevention program positive results were obtained. The benefits of web-based prevention and especially the advantages of “Cool and Safe” will be discussed.