A pilot study on validation of the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect Child Abuse Screening Tool-Children's Version (ICAST-CH)
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Date
2016
Authors
Sahaimi, Mohd Faizul
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Pusat Pengajian Sains Perubatan, Universiti Sains Malaysia
Abstract
Background
Childhood maltreatments, which include all forms of abuse namely physical, sexual,
emotional or psychological abuse and neglect undeniably is a very crucial problem
across the continents, cultural and beliefs. Despite the alarming increasing in rates
and prevalence of such maltreatments all over the world, the true extent of the
problem remains a conundrum. There are multitudes of studies carried out in an
attempt to explore this pressing problem, but the mysteries have yet to be solved. The
International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN), has
developed an instrument ICAST-CH specifically designed for children. This
instrument proved to be reliable in accessing the scope and prevalence of childhood
maltreatment. Malaysia, in particular, has very limited tools to assess childhood
experiences of maltreatment.
Objective
The study aimed at translating and validating Malay version of ISPCAN Child Abuse
Screening Tool – Children's Version (ICAST- CH) among Malaysian children.
Methods
A two-phase study was conducted. In phase I, the ICAST-CH English Version was
translated into Malay using forward and backward translation procedure and
following that, the content validity was obtained. In phase II, 253 students, aged 13
to 17 years old were recruited by universal sampling method to examine internal
consistency by mean of Cronbach's alpha and to explore construct validity by mean
of exploratory factor analysis.
Results
Analysis of the study indicated that Malay version ICAST-CH-M had high total
score internal consistency with Cronbach's alpha of 0.84, but low on subscale that
ranged from 0.61-0.81.
Conclusion
This study failed to demonstrate satisfactory reliability and validity for ICAST-CHM.
Thus the recommendation to use ICAST-CH-M as an instrument to measure
childhood maltreatment's among Malaysian children could not yet be concluded.
Further study to explore the instrument is highly recommended.
Description
Keywords
Child abuse