Assessment of awareness of good touch and bad touch in primary school children of a metropolis in North India

Introduction: ‘Good touch’ and ‘bad touch’ is a sensitive topic whose relevance is very high in the present-day scenario. Children in India are not aware about the topic and thus become more susceptible to child sexual abuse (CSA), a rising evil in society.  Objectives: To assess the awareness of ‘good touch’ and ‘bad touch’ amongst school children.  Method: An observational, questionnaire‐based cross-sectional study was conducted on 200 children studying in Class III to Class VI in two schools of a metropolis in North India. A structured pre-validated questionnaire was used to assess the awareness and knowledge of study participants on ‘good touch’ and ‘bad touch’. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 23.0.  Results: Of the 200 children 61% said that they have some previous knowledge about ‘good touch’ and ‘bad touch’, while 39% were totally unaware about it. Excellent scores were obtained by 20% students, good scores by 63% students and average scores by 17% students. There was no significant association of awareness of ‘good touch’ and ‘bad touch’ with any of the socio-demographic variables. Conclusions: Excellent scores were obtained by 20% students, good scores by 63% students and average scores by 17% students regarding awareness of ‘good touch’ and ‘bad touch’.