Citation

Thompson EL, Garg A, Esser KC, Caddy D, Matthes S, Rohr D, Spence EE. Am. J. Health Behav. 2021; 45(5): 947-955.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, PNG Publications)

DOI

10.5993/AJHB.45.5.14

PMID

34702441

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: School-based child abuse primary prevention programs are delivered across the country; however, a validated measurement tool that is feasible to deliver to students is unavailable. The purpose of this study was to describe the development and validation of a measurement tool for knowledge and skills related to the primary prevention of child physical and sexual abuse.

METHODS: Two elementary schools and 404 students participated. Students completed 5 instruments: the Play it Safe!(®) scale, 2 scales related to abuse prevention, and 2 unrelated scales. For assessment of the convergent and divergent validity, correlations were estimated and corresponding p-values in SAS version 9.4.

RESULTS: For the Play it Safe!(®) scale, the mean score was 10.87 out of 14 potential points (SD = 2.73; higher scores = higher knowledge). The internal consistency of the scale was adequate with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.77. We found strong correlations for the 2 convergent validity scales, and weak correlations for the 2 divergent validity scales.

CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates the divergent and convergent validity of a child abuse primary prevention knowledge scale that can be used in school-settings and can assist in the measurement of primary prevention knowledge.

Language: en