Adaptation and psychometric properties of the Greek version of the children's knowledge of abuse questionnaire (CKAQ R-III)

Abstract

Objective: The study of child sexual abuse prevention has received an increased research discussion focusing on how children understand sexual abuse concepts, evaluating the effectiveness of prevention programs. The primary purpose of the present study was to translate and culturally adapt the Children's Knowledge of Abuse Questionnaire RIII (CKAQ RIII), a Canadian tool that examines children's understanding of sexual abuse concepts, for use in Greek public schools. More specifically, the objective was to assess the reliability (internal consistency), construct validity and factorial structure of the questionnaire. Method: A sample of 467 Greek school children between the ages of 6-8 from a Greek private school was recruited. Results: Internal consistency was high for the inappropriate touch scale (a= .817) and moderate for the appropriate touch subscale (a= .63). Inter-item analysis showed that the majority of items were in an acceptable range. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients analyses revealed positive and significant associations between the two subscales of CKAQ (IT'S and ATS) and the overall scores of the questionnaire. A mixed-subjects analysis of variance on the inappropriate touch scale showed an increase in knowledge post intervention with third graders generally scoring higher and demonstrating greater knowledge gains post intervention. A mixed-subjects analysis of variance was also conducted for the appropriate touch scale where there was no significant increase in knowledge found. Finally, a principal component analysis was conducted where a similar factorial structure to the Canadian version was found. Conclusions: Current findings including the high reliability and validity for the inappropriate touch scale of the CKAO RIII as well as consistent factorial structure as compared to the English language version, further demonstrate that the Children's Knowledge of Abuse questionnaire is a valid tool for measuring knowledge on child sexual abuse concepts. Implications of findings and future directions for further validation of the CKAQ are discussed.