Effectiveness of a predator avoidance program for elementary-aged youth.

ABSTRACT

Introduction: With thousands of children abducted and abused each year, efforts are needed to keep children safe from predators. Revved Up Kids (RUK) is an intervention that gives elementary-aged children the necessary tools to recognize and avoid dangerous people and situations. The purposes of this study were to describe the RUK intervention components and document its effectiveness. Methods: This evaluation utilized a quasi-experimental design to determine the effectiveness of RUK. The single-session intervention was offered in two formats one-hour (n = 119 youth) and three-hour (n = 28 youth) workshops. RUK workshop effectiveness was compared to a comparison group (n = 211 youth) that did not receive an intervention. Data were collected at baseline, immediate-post, and 1-month follow-up from second to fourth grade participants. A series of linear mixed models were fitted. Results: Compared to the comparison group, participants in both RUK workshops showed significant improvements across the three time points. More specifically, participants in the one-hour and three-hour RUK workshops significantly increased their safety knowledge measured by the Recognize Score (p < 0.01), Avoid Score (p < 0.01), and Escape Score (p < 0.01), respectively. Discussion: These effective single-session workshops can be easily introduced into schools and community-based settings to complement existing efforts to prevent child abduction and abuse.