An evaluation of primary school teachers towards child sexual abuse and necessity of its reporting

Authors
Sajad Alboukordi
Mohammad Nikousiar Jahromi
Lili Mosalanejad
Javad Khodadadi
10.29252/jmj.8.4.22
Abstract
Introduction:                                                                                                                                            

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is one of those problems which repeatedly happens and affects the future of children. In order to decrease the negative effects of CSA, many countries try to fight against this problem by developing new educational programs. One of the target communities for presenting these instructions is primary school teachers, who can offer great helps, considering their day-to-day and close relationship with the victims of CSA. Therefore, they are expected to have the knowledge and ability in this area. The purpose of this study was to investigate the level of knowledge of primary school teachers regarding CSA and their attitudes towards it, and also to evaluate their ability to identify and report this phenomenon.                                                                                                        

Material and Methods:                                                                                                                            

The sample group consisted of 62 primary school teachers in Karaj who were selected through cluster sampling method. To collect the data, a researcher-made questionnaire was used with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.86.                                                                                                                                             

Results:                                                                                                                                                       

The analysis of data showed that although the teachers are aware of the significance of their role in identification and reporting of CSA, their knowledge in this area is insufficient, 86 percent of these teachers had received no instructions in this area and it seems that their ability to identify and report this phenomenon was not sufficient.                                                                                                           

Conclusion:                                                                                                                                               

Therefore, it seems necessary to provide them with proper instructions about identification and reporting of this problem in pre-service educational courses.                                                                    
Keywords
: Child Sexual Abuse
Knowledge
Attitude
primary school
teachers
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