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

• NCJ Number: 231430
• Journal: Journal of Child Sexual Abuse Volume: 19 Issue: 3 Dated: May-June 2010 Pages: 310-336
• Author(s): Kerryann Walsh; Mehdi Rassafiani; Ben Mathews; Ann Farrell; Des Butler
• Date Published: May 2010
• Length: 27 pages
• Grant Number(s): DP664847
• Sponsoring Agency: Australian Research Council
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study explored teachers' attitudes about reporting cases of child sexual abuse.

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. Tables, figure, and references (Published Abstract)