Work

Teachers' Attitudes toward Reporting Child Sexual Abuse: Problems with Existing Research Leading to New Scale Development

Year: 2010

Type: article

Abstract: This paper details a systematic literature review identifying problems in extant research relating to teachers' attitudes toward reporting child sexual abuse and offers a model for new attitude scale development and testing. Scale development comprised a five-phase process grounded in contemporary attitude theories, including (a) developing the initial item pool, (b) conducting a panel review, (c) refining the scale via an expert focus group, (d) building content validity through cognitive interviews, and (e) assessing internal consistency via field testing. The resulting 21-item scale displayed construct validity in preliminary testing. The scale may prove useful as a research tool, given the theoretical supposition that attitudes may be changed with time, context, experience, and education. Further investigation with a larger sample is warranted.

Source: Journal of Child Sexual Abuse

DOI: 10.1080/10538711003781392

Authors: Kerryann Walsh, Mehdi Rassafiani, Ben Mathews, Ann Farrell, Des Butler

Institutions: Queensland University of Technology, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences

Language: English

Topic: Child Abuse and Trauma

Subfield: Clinical Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Quality education

Open Access status: green

Funder: Australian Research Council