Child neglect and abuse awareness scale parental form: Scale development and implementation study

The aim of the study was to determine the child neglect and abuse awareness levels of parents who have children between the ages of 3-6 and whose children attend kindergarten and to raise awareness on this issue. The sample of the research consisted of parents who had children in kindergarten in Batman city center in the 2023-2024 academic year. "Demographic Information Form" was used to collect general information about the participants in the study. To determine the parents' child neglect and abuse awareness levels, the "Child Neglect and Abuse Awareness Scale Parent Form", which was developed and whose validity-reliability study was conducted by the researcher, was used. In the development of the Child Neglect and Abuse Awareness Scale Parent Form, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was first used to reveal the dimensions of the structure. Then, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to ensure the validity of the structure and verify the structure. A sample of 440 people was used for exploratory factor analysis and a sample of 400 people was used for confirmatory factor analysis. Finally, 418 data sets were used in the research to examine demographic variables. Correlations were examined to see whether the items overlapped with each other and whether there was a problem of uniqueness or multicollinearity. Since the inter-item correlations were below 0.90, it was observed that there was no multicollinearity. (Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin) KMO value was examined for the adequacy of the sample. For 15 items, the average KMO value was 0.794. Therefore, the sample was considered adequate. Additionally, Bartlett test results were examined to examine the factorability of the structure. The value obtained as a result of the Bartlett test was 𝜒²(105) = 1428.86, p < .001, and it turned out that this value was significant and therefore the structure was a scalable structure. When we look at the fit statistics of construct validity, all different fit indices were considered as a result of the analyses, and among these fit indices, the X2/SD value is less than 3, the RMSEA and SRMR value is less than 0.08, and the GFI index is greater than 0.90, indicating a perfect fit. . When the reliability of the scale was examined, the lowest reliability coefficient was obtained as 0.702, even according to the minimum split-half reliability, and it was understood that it was a scale that could be used to measure a sensitive issue such as abuse. As a result of the analysis, the "Child Neglect and Abuse Awareness Scale Parent Form" consisting of 49 items was found to have a valid and reliable structure consisting of 15 items, 3 dimensions and 1 modification. As a result of the analyzes made according to the variables included in the Demographic Information Form, suggestions were made for parents, educators and researchers on an important and sensitive issue such as child neglect and abuse.