Child sexual abuse research knowledge among child abuse professionals and laypersons

The purposes of this study were to: (1) Assess child abuse professionals' and nonprofessionals' knowledge of scientific research findings that are relevant to forensic child sexual abuse (CSA) evaluations and (2) describe associations between child abuse professionals' levels of research knowledge and their education and experience. An 18-item multiple-choice test was administered to 188 child abuse professionals and 457 nonprofessionals (undergraduate college students) in Brazil and the United States. The nonprofessionals' average percent correct, M=44%, was not significantly different than what would be expected for random guessing (45%). The professionals' average percent correct, M=55%, was higher than that of nonprofessionals and random guessing (both ps<.001). The average percent correct score for the US-sample psychologists, M=76%, was higher than the average score of the other professionals, M=51%, p<.001. Professionals' educational level, as measured by the highest academic degree obtained, was positively associated with percent correct scores, Spearman's ρ=.46, p<.001. Controlling for educational attainment, professional experience, as measured by the total number of CSA evaluations performed, was weakly associated with percent correct scores, partial r=.15, p=.04. Percent correct scores were low for both nonprofessionals and professionals. Most of the participants in this study were uninformed or misinformed about scientific research findings that are important for conducting optimal forensic CSA evaluations and for making accurate judgments about the validity of sexual abuse allegations.