Attitudinal Change Through SmartShield: Findings From a Quasi-Experimental Study on Sexual Abuse Prevention in Malaysian Primary Schools

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Child sexual abuse remains a significant public health concern because of its long-term consequences for children’s psychological, emotional, and social well-being. Although school-based prevention programmes have consistently improved knowledge, their influence on attitudes toward self-protection has received less attention. SmartShield is a culturally adapted, video-based educational programme developed to promote positive attitudes toward child sexual abuse prevention among Malaysian primary school children. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A quasi-experimental controlled trial was conducted using stratified multistage cluster sampling. Six government primary schools were randomly selected from five geographic regions of Malaysia, with one lower and one upper primary class recruited from each school. A total of 912 students participated. Lower primary students received SmartShield 1 (one module), whereas upper primary students received SmartShield 2 (two modules), delivered through 20-minute video-guided sessions. Attitudes were measured using validated questionnaires at baseline and at Weeks 2 and 4. Repeated measures analysis of variance, adjusted for sex and geographic region, was used to evaluate intervention effects. RESULTS: The intervention group demonstrated significantly greater improvements in attitude scores than the control group at all follow-up assessments (p<0.001). Among lower primary students, adjusted mean scores increased from 70.7% to 91.2%, compared with 75.1% to 83.1% in the control group. Among upper primary students, scores increased from 69.2% to 84.0%, whereas the control group improved from 67.6% to 80.4%. CONCLUSION: The SmartShield program effectively improved attitudes toward child sexual abuse prevention among Malaysian primary school children.