Resumo

CANELA PAREJAS, Mayra et al. Child Sexual Abuse: the social perception of elementary school teachers in Mérida, Yucatán. Diálogos sobre educ. Temas actuales en investig. educ. [online]. 2021, vol.12, n.23, 00032.  Epub 06-Dez-2021. ISSN 2007-2171.  https://doi.org/10.32870/dse.v0i23.738.

This qualitative approach research work was conducted with the aim of determining the degree of knowledge and information elementary school teachers in Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico possess on the meaning, opinions, feelings and emotions, risk factors, identification, and attention to cases of child sexual abuse (CSA). 80 teachers offered their social perception about CSA through a Likert-type scale, and 20 of them agreed to answer a semi-structured interview to learn more about their social perception of this phenomenon. The results reflected an awareness of teachers about this situation, allowing us to conclude that it is a very common problem that currently affects the country, and that there is little knowledge about CSA and how to deal with it, because they are not the ones who provide follow up on these cases, which are usually handled by the school’s authorities.

Palavras-chave : social perception; child sexual abuse; teachers; elementary schools; risk factors.