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

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.

KEYWORDS:

• child sexual abuse
• mandatory reporting
• attitudes
• teachers

Acknowledgments

This research was supported under the Australian Research Council's Discovery Projects funding scheme (Project Number DP664847). Research assistance was provided to this project by Sam Kilby, Jane Cronan, and Lisa Chirio, from the Faculty of Law, QUT. The research team gratefully acknowledges the contribution of study participants and the pilot school staff.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kerryann Walsh

Kerryann Walsh, PhD, is Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.

Mehdi Rassafiani

Mehdi Rassafiani, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Pediatric Neurorehabilitation Research Center and Director of the Research Committee of the Department of Occupational Therapy at The University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran. He was formerly appointed as a research fellow in the Faculties of Law and Education at the Queensland University of Technology.

Ben Mathews

Ben Mathews, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the School of Law, Queensland University of Technology.

Ann Farrell

Ann Farrell, PhD, is Professor of Early Childhood and Head of the School of Early Childhood at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.

Des Butler

Des Butler, PhD, is a Professor of Law in the Faculty of Law at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.