Measuring awareness about child abuse and neglect: Validity and reliability of a newly developed tool-child abuse and neglect awareness scale

Özet

In this study, we aimed at determining child abuse and neglect awarenessof medical students attending one of the top medical schools in Turkey. Thestudy group comprised 350 third-year medical students at Gazi University,School of Medicine, Ankara. The items in the scale were prepared by twoexperienced pediatricians and revised according to feedback received fromtwo pilot studies and experts in this field of study. A 20-item “Child Abuseand Neglect Awareness” scale (CANA-S) was developed by an expert panel.Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed. We alsomeasured test–retest reliability and internal consistency. Conformity for factoranalysis of the scale’s construct validity revealed a Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin sampleconcordance coefficient of 0.799. For the Bartlett Sphericity test, χ2 valuewas 1157.750 (p<0.01). Based on these analyses, the scale explains 44.9%of the total variance and consists of 20 items and 4 subscales. Cronbach’salpha value and correlation coefficient were 0.768 and r=0.204 (p=0.045),respectively. This scale is a valid and reliable measurement tool for evaluatingawareness about child abuse and neglect among the medical students.