ISPCAN Child Abuse Screening Tool Children's Version (ICAST-C): Instrument development and multi-national pilot...

Area of Science:

• Child protection research
• Survey methodology
• International health

Background:

• Child victimization is a significant global issue requiring robust assessment tools.
• Existing instruments may lack cross-cultural applicability or comprehensive domain coverage.
• Developing a standardized, multi-lingual survey is crucial for accurate prevalence estimation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a child victimization survey through expert consensus.
• To evaluate the performance of the developed instrument in international pilot studies.
• To establish a reliable tool for assessing child victimization globally.

Main Methods:

• A consensus-based instrument (ICAST-C) was developed with input from 40 countries.
• The survey underwent two rounds of Delphi review via email.
• The final instrument was translated into six languages and pilot-tested with 571 children aged 12-17.

Main Results:

• The ICAST-C includes versions for home and institutional settings with 38 and 44 items, respectively.
• Pilot testing revealed high rates of reported victimization, including violence exposure, physical, psychological, and sexual victimization, and neglect.
• Internal consistency was moderate to high (alpha .685–.855), with low missing data (<1.5%).

Conclusions:

• The ICAST-C is a feasible, reliable, and valid instrument for assessing child victimization.
• Pilot studies confirmed its ability to identify high victimization rates across domains.
• The multi-lingual, multi-national nature of the ICAST-C supports its use in international child protection research.