Boston University School of Public Health, MA, USA.
Northeastern University, Boston, USA.
J Interpers Violence. 2021 Oct;36(19-20):9143-9166. doi: 10.1177/0886260519865972. Epub 2019 Jul 27.
The commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) of children is a consequential public health and criminal justice problem, but no CSE prevention programs have been evaluated. The Boston-based My Life My Choice (MLMC) program offers a multisession psychoeducation group to girls who are identified as "at-disproportionate-risk" for CSE victimization and trains other agencies throughout the U.S. to offer this curriculum. The curriculum was designed to improve knowledge about the commercial sex industry and shift-related attitudes and behaviors. The current project was a multi-year, multi-site evaluation to assess the effectiveness of the MLMC prevention group. Using a one-group longitudinal design, changes in participant behavior and CSE knowledge were measured at baseline ( = 354), upon group completion ( = 296), and 3 months after group completion ( = 241). The sample was 95% female-identified, 28% Black/African American, 26% White/non-Hispanic, 25% Hispanic/Latina, and 22% other race. The mean age of participants was 15.6 years old. Approximately 28% identified as bisexual, and 10% identified as lesbian, asexual, pansexual, or other. In multivariable-adjusted models, participants reported fewer episodes of sexually explicit behavior at follow up as compared to baseline (relative risk [RR]: 0.52, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.37-0.72 at Follow-up 1, and 0.53, 95% CI: 0.35-0.82 at Follow-up 2). Participants were 24% less likely to report dating abuse at Follow-up 2 as compared to baseline ( = .06). In addition, as compared to baseline, participants were 40% more likely to have given help or information about CSE to a friend at Follow-up 2, and participants demonstrated increased knowledge and awareness about CSE and its harms over the follow-up period. Although additional evaluation using a comparison group and long-term follow up would increase confidence that observed changes are attributable to the group instead of other factors, results suggest that the MLMC curriculum may be effective in reducing the risk of CSE and improving other conditions for youth who are at-disproportionate-risk of CSE.
商业性儿童性剥削（CSE）是一个严重的公共卫生和刑事司法问题，但目前尚无针对这种现象的预防项目得到评估。总部位于波士顿的“我的生活我的选择”（MLMC）项目为那些被认为“不成比例地面临性剥削风险”的女孩提供了一系列心理教育小组，并培训美国各地的其他机构提供这一课程。该课程旨在提高对商业性行业的认识，并改变相关态度和行为。目前的项目是一项多年多地点的评估，旨在评估 MLMC 预防小组的有效性。该研究采用单组纵向设计，在基线（n=354）、小组完成时（n=296）和小组完成后 3 个月（n=241）时测量参与者行为和 CSE 知识的变化。样本中 95%为女性，28%为黑人/非裔美国人，26%为白人/非西班牙裔，25%为西班牙裔/拉丁裔，22%为其他种族。参与者的平均年龄为 15.6 岁。大约 28%的参与者自认为是双性恋者，10%的参与者自认为是女同性恋者、无性恋者、泛性恋者或其他性取向。在多变量调整模型中，与基线相比，参与者在随访时报告的性暗示行为次数较少（随访 1 时相对风险[RR]：0.52，95%置信区间[CI]：0.37-0.72；随访 2 时 RR：0.53，95% CI：0.35-0.82）。与基线相比，参与者在随访 2 时报告约会虐待的可能性降低了 24%（ =.06）。此外，与基线相比，参与者在随访 2 时更有可能向朋友提供有关 CSE 的帮助或信息，并且参与者在随访期间对 CSE 及其危害的认识和意识有所提高。尽管使用对照组和长期随访进行额外的评估将增加观察到的变化归因于该小组而不是其他因素的信心，但结果表明，MLMC 课程可能有助于降低 CSE 的风险，并改善那些不成比例地面临 CSE 风险的青年的其他条件。
