Effects of parents' knowledge and attitudes about to child sexual abuse on childhood sexual myths.

BACKGROUND

Child sexual abuse is a serious global public health concern. Parents' myths about sexual abuse may cause the abuse or the abuser to be overlooked.

AIM: This study aimed to investigate the role of parents' child sexual abuse-related knowledge and attitudes in predicting childhood sexual abuse myths.

METHODS

The study employed a cross-sectional, descriptive design, and the sample consisted of 410 parents. The Information Form and the Parent Form of the Childhood Sexual Abuse Myths Scale (CSAMS) and Child Sexual Abuse Knowledge/Attitude Scale for Parents (CSAKAS) were used for data collection.

RESULTS

In this study, the mean scores obtained from the CSAKAS and CSAMS were 146.93 ± 14.17 and 32.66 ± 12.34, respectively. The only independent variable with CSAKAS explanatory power was the parents' myths about child sexual abuse. In the models created with this variable, the level of parents' myths about childhood sexual abuse explained approximately 38.1 % of the change in the CSAKAS total score.

CONCLUSION

Parents' knowledge and attitudes about child sexual abuse were a negative predictor of myths about childhood sexual abuse. It is very important for parents to be aware of myths about child sexual abuse and to be conscious of sexual abuse in order to prevent such abuse. It is recommended that parents' knowledge/ attitudes should be improved in order to raise their awareness of child abuse.

IMPLICATIONS TO PRACTICE: This study shows that improving parents' knowledge and attitudes towards preventing child sexual abuse can play an important role in improving their myths about child sexual abuse.