CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE; COMPARISON OF KNOWLEDGE AND ALERTNESS AMONG GENDERS

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a significant health problem with potential long-term consequences for victims, therefore knowledge regarding sexual abuse is essential for children. Educating children about body parts, good and bad touch develops positive body image and self-confidence. Informed and confident children are more likely to prevent themselves from abuse and reach out for the help. This quantitative descriptive survey based study evaluates and compares the knowledge and alertness against CSA among children of both genders. 100 participants of age bracket 6 to 12 years old both genders from different areas of Karachi were selected through simple random sampling technique. Informed consent was taken from the parents of the participants. The survey of 20-25 minutes was done in a course of 2 weeks in a semi structures setting. Each question was explained to children taken in group of 5, in simple and comprehensible Urdu language. Assessment was done using The Child Knowledge of Abuse Questionnaire - Rev II (CKAQ-REV II). Result indicates negligible difference of knowledge and skills about CSA between girls and boys. More than average of the children in the study have marked ‘False' and ‘I don't know' on the application based questions that depict poor practical skills. Mean score of girls and boys on CKAQ-REV II is 16 and 17 respectively that shows children of Pakistani society are at high risk of CSA. Similar study can be performed to find the correlation of knowledge and awareness of CSA between children and their parents.