Abstract
This article aims to adapt and validate for the Brazilian context the Sexual Abuse Beliefs Scale (SABS), from a Portuguese origin, composed by 17 items and 3 factors. For this, two studies were realized. In the first, an exploratory factorial analysis was performed with a sample of 208 undergraduate students, obtaining a unifactorial structure, differing form the original scale, with Cronbach’s alpha of 0.88. Facing this disagreement, a second study was realized to confirm the factorial structure of the scale, with 209 undergraduate students. Therefore, the result confirmed the unifactorial structure as the best model for the scale, with reduction from 17 to 11 items, obtaining Cronbach’s alpha of 0.84. Thus the adaptation and validation of SABS contributes to fill a gap existing in Brazil regarding to instruments aimed at measuring beliefs about child sexual abuse, and can collaborate with studies and interventions in the area.
Keywords:
belief; sexual abuse; children; teenagers; scale
