The majority of child abuse occurs within the family, perpetrated by parents. Specifically, child abuse experienced during early childhood has a detrimental impact on children’s physical and psychological development. Preventive measures before the occurrence of child abuse are more effective than intervention after it happens.
Purpose: Therefore, the purpose of this study was to develop a child abuse prevention education program for parents. Furthermore, the aim was to investigate the impact of child abuse prevention education on parents'' positive emotions, parenting stress, and potential for child abuse. Methods: Nonequivalent control group pre-test and post-test designs were used. Among parents with children aged 1-5 at 8 nurseries and kindergartens located in Daegu, 60 subjects. 30 in the experimental group and 30 in the control group participated in the study from February 15th to March 24th, 2023. Data were analyzed by independent t-test, paired t-test, and x²-test along with descriptive statistics using IBM SPSS Statistics 25.0. Child abuse prevention education included child rights, understanding child abuse, proper child discipline, and a positive parenting attitude. Results: The experimental group whose parents participated in child abuse prevention education reported a significant difference in positive rumination from the control group whose parents did not participate (t=2.152, p=0.036). The experimental group reported a significant difference in dampening from the control group whose parents did not participate (t= -2.492, p= 0.016). The experimental group reported a significant difference in parenting stress from the control group (t=-2.119, P= 0.038). The experimental group also reported significant differences in child abuse potential from the control group (t=-2.259, p=0.028). conclusion: The results of this study indicate that child abuse prevention education for parents is shown to improve positive rumination, reduce dampening, and reduce parenting stress and child abuse potential. Therefore this study is effective in increasing susceptibility to child abuse. Future studies should pursue long-term programs and counseling programs.