The knowledge and skills related to sexual abuse prevention among Chinese children with hearing loss in Beijing

Abstract

Background: The prevalence of any child sexual abuse (CSA) experience before the age of 16 years ranges from 10.2 to 35.2% in China,^1-5 but there has been no research so far exploring the level of awareness of CSA prevention and self-protection skills among Chinese children with hearing loss.

Objective: The school based survey examines the CSA prevention knowledge and self-protection skills in Chinese children with hearing loss.

Methods: Fifty-one students (30 boys, 21 girls) from 10 to 16 years old participated in the study. Children's CSA prevention knowledge and self-protection skills were tested by using anonymous self-administered questionnaire which was mainly designed based on previous Chinese CSA research questionnaires, the Personal Safety Questionnaire, and the 'What If' Situations Test (WIST).

Results: There were ten questions assessing the knowledge of CSA but none of the children could correctly answer all and seventy percent of the students could not answer more than five questions correctly. Only three students got the maximum skills score. If sexual abuse occurs, about fifty two percent of the children would report it to trusted adults and most of them would report it to their relatives. Girls received significantly higher scores than boys.

Conclusion: Chinese children with hearing loss lack knowledge regarding child sexual abuse and the way to protect themselves. There is an urgent need to develop CSA prevention programs in the school for children with hearing loss in China. Parental training and parent-child interaction on CSA prevention should be developed and promoted as well.

Keywords: Child sexual abuse; Children with hearing loss; China; Prevention.