Zihinsel Yetersizliği Olan Çocukların Annelerinin Çocukluk Dönemi Cinsel İstismar Mitleri ve İlişkili Faktörler

Abstract

Objective: Children with intellectual disabilities are in the risk group in terms of sexual abuse compared to healthy peers. Mothers’ false beliefs about sexual abuse may cause the abuse or the abuser to be overlooked. This study aimed to determine the myths about childhood sexual abuse and related ıntroductory factors of mothers of children with intellectual disabilities. Methods: The sample of the cross-sectional study consisted of mothers of children with intellectual disabilities (n=100) enrolled in two different special education institutions. Institutional permission, ethics approval, and written consent from the participants was obtained in the study. The data were collected with introductory characteristics data form and parent form of the childhood sexual abuse myths scale (CSAMS). Descriptive and non-parametric tests were used for data analyses. Results: The mean CSAMS total score of the mothers of the children with intellectual disabilities was 33.75±11.92. There were statistically significant differences between mothers’ education level, family type, number of children, age, and CSAMS scores. There was no difference between the CSAMS scores of the mothers who received and did not receive training on childhood sexual abuse previously. Those who thought that they did not need information about protecting their children from sexual abuse had higher CSAMS scores. Conclusion: It is recommended to plan and implement training and intervention studies by nurses to increase mothers in the risk group awareness of childhood sexual abuse myths.