Education professionals’ knowledge and beliefs about child sexual abuse

Abstract

Education professionals play a key role in preventing, identifying, and reporting of child sexual abuse. Their effectiveness in these roles depends, in part, on their knowledge and beliefs about the phenomenon. This cross-sectional quantitative study aimed to examine education professionals’ knowledge and beliefs about child sexual abuse, identify domains of greater training needs, and analyze their associations with sociodemographic and professional characteristics. Participants were 258 education professionals working in public and private elementary schools in Brazil. They completed the Knowledge and Beliefs About Child Sexual Abuse Questionnaire (QCCAS) online. Descriptive analyses, comparisons between factors, association tests, and adjusted general linear models were conducted. Results indicated greater accuracy in recognizing sexually abusive behaviors and moderate levels of knowledge and beliefs about child sexual abuse. Among the assessed domains, the domain concerning children's responses to child sexual abuse yielded the highest scores, whereas the domain related to the identification of child sexual abuse and its indicators yielded the lowest scores. Gender, age, years of professional experience, and household income were associated with different QCCAS domains. The findings highlight specific gaps, particularly in identifying child sexual abuse and interpreting its indicators, and provide guidance for the development of pre-service and in-service training programs for education professionals.