Date of Conferral
2019
Degree
Ph.D.
School
Social Work
Advisor
Shari Jorissen
Abstract
The research problem for this study was fathers’ low participation in child sexual abuse (CSA) prevention with their children. The purpose of this study was to explore how fathers perceive their self-efficacy in talking to their children about CSA prevention. Bandura’s self-efficacy concept, which is a part of social cognitive theory, was used as the theoretical foundation for this study. The primary research question addressed fathers’ perceptions of their self-efficacy in discussing CSA prevention with their children. The secondary research question addressed what fathers think could be affecting their comfort level in talking to their children about CSA prevention. A generic qualitative design was used to address these research questions. Fathers of children between the ages of 7 years and 13 years were included in this study. The participants were interviewed via telephone. Data were analyzed using a 12-step process to performing an inductive analysis on qualitative data. The findings from this study showed that 90% of the participants talked to their children about CSA prevention, even though some of them expressed doubt about their efficacy and competency in having the discussion. Participants stated that they wanted easily accessible resources to increase their efficacy and gave suggestions on how to make the resources available. This study has important social implications because increasing fathers’ self-efficacy in talking to their children about CSA prevention could lead to the increased protection of children in their environment. Increasing the protection of children could contribute to fewer cases of CSA.
Recommended Citation
Campbell, Lori, "Fathers’ Perceived Self-Efficacy in Talking to Their Children About Child Sexual Abuse Prevention" (2019). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 7612.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/7612
