Capacitação do educador acerca do abuso sexual infantil

The violence of sexual abuse is more difficult to identify, as in the majority of cases, physical evidence is not present. If teachers were trained to be more sensitive to other symptoms that a sexually abused child shows, perhaps these children could be identified earlier. The goal of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention program which enables teachers to work with sexual abuse cases. Participants were 11 teachers; five took part in the intervention program and six remained with a control group. The intervention program had two phases: 1) Four meetings, each of three hours duration, conducted at the Municipal School Board. Activities of this phase involved: oral presentations about the theme, practical activities, explanations about pertinent legislation, video and film presentations, role-playing, etc. 2) A consultation period. Two measurements evaluated the teachers` performance: the RAS (Register on Sexual Abuse) and a Questionnaire regarding knowledge and beliefs on sexual abuse. Such measurements were applied before the intervention, at its end and then at the termination of the consultation phase. In general, the intervention resulted in some important changes for the teachers, enabling them to work with sexual abuse cases. Keywords: Sexual abuse; teachers; intervention.