Myths About Child Sexual Abuse Among Professionals: Validation of the CSAM Scale

Abstract

Background: Misconceptions about child sexual abuse persist to this day. Assessing and challenging these beliefs among childcare professionals is essential to improve the quality of care provided to victims. The aim of the present study was to validate the CSAM scale in a sample of Spanish professionals, as well as to analyse their level of agreement with these misconceptions. Method: 1007 participants (86.1% female) with various professional profiles related to childcare completed the CSAM scale as part of a training programme. Results: The scale scores show a unidimensional structure (CFI = .99, TLI = .99, RMSEA = .05, SRMR = .06) and good internal consistency (α and ω = .83). Spanish childcare professionals generally disagreed with the myths presented (M = 18.2; SD = 4.3). However, men had higher scores on some items; prior training decreased the level of agreement with the myths; and police officers showed the lowest knowledge of child sexual abuse. Conclusions: Knowledge among Spanish childcare professionals is generally adequate, however further training is still needed.