Adaptation of the child forensic attitudes scale into Turkish and examination of professionals' forensic attitudes in terms of different variables and gender roles.

BACKGROUND

Professionals' forensic attitudes toward child abuse play a crucial role in recognition and intervention, yet culturally adapted measurement tools are limited.

AIM: This study aimed to translate and adapt Child Forensic Attitudes Scale into Turkish and examine professionals' attitudes across gender, age, education, and experience.

PARTICIPANTS AND

SETTING

The study had two phases. In Phase 1, 309 professionals working with children from various regions of Turkey participated. In Phase 2, 431 professionals (teachers, health workers, psychologists, psychological consultants, child development specialists, social consultants, lawyers, doctors, sociologists) from one city were included.

METHODS

The scale was translated, back-translated, and expert-reviewed; content validity was assessed with CVI. Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses tested construct validity, while Cronbach's alpha examined reliability. In Phase 2, descriptive statistics, nonparametric tests, correlation analyses, and multiple regression analyses were conducted.

RESULTS

Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses revealed a three-factor structure (Fear of Not Identifying Abuse, Fear of Overcalling Abuse, Skepticism) that explained 47.9% of variance. In Phase 2, 65.9% of professionals were female, 35% were aged 31-40, 81.9% had a bachelor's degree, and 92.3% had 0-5 years of experience in child abuse. Regression analysis indicated that the Gender Roles Attitude Scale and the Scale Against Children Who Were Sexually Abused scores, gender, age, doctoral degree, prior experience interviewing abused children, and training on sexual abuse were significantly associated with forensic attitudes.

CONCLUSION

Findings highlight the need to integrate child abuse awareness and forensic sensitivity into professional training and policy, supporting cross-cultural research and practice.