Leveraging Gamification to Address Child Sexual Abuse: A Preliminary Evaluation of the Cesagram Platform

Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) remains a critical global issue, with the rise of online grooming posing new threats to young people’s safety. This paper presents the Cesagram platform, a gamified digital platform designed to prevent CSA by raising awareness of online grooming among children aged 11-14. The platform integrates interactive learning activities within a narrative-driven environment, featuring customizable avatars and four thematic districts. The effectiveness of the Cesagram platform combined with theoretical content was evaluated through 11 workshops involving 195 students from Lithuania and Greece, utilizing pre- and post-workshop questionnaires. Findings indicate that the workshops effectively improved participants’ knowledge of CSA and grooming, while also promoting user engagement. This study underscores the potential of gamification in sensitive educational contexts, contributing to digital well-being and safety education.