Forough Rakhshanizadeh; alireza khadembashi; Elahe Heidari; Negar Morovatdar; Atefeh Soltanifar
Abstract
Introduction:Child abuse and neglect is a public health challenge with lifelong consequences for survivors. Physicians’ knowledge regarding child abuse and neglect is essential for diagnosis, treatment, and timely referral to legal authorities. This study aimed to determine pediatric residents’ ...
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Introduction:Child abuse and neglect is a public health challenge with lifelong consequences for survivors. Physicians’ knowledge regarding child abuse and neglect is essential for diagnosis, treatment, and timely referral to legal authorities. This study aimed to determine pediatric residents’ and pediatricians’ knowledge and attitude regarding child abuse and neglect.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, pediatric residents› and pediatricians› knowledge and attitude regarding child abuse and neglect were measured using a standard questionnaire with confirmed validity and reliability. In this questionnaire, knowledge score ranged from 0 to 17, and attitude score ranged from 10 to 50. After collecting the questionnaires and calculating the scores, the information was entered into the SPSS software (version 22), and statistical analysis was performed.Results: A total of 80 participants, including 38 pediatric residents and 42 pediatricians, participated in this research. Among them, 71.3% were female, and 28.8% were male. The mean score of knowledge and attitude in all participants was 14.05 ± 1.88 out of 17 and 41.39 ± 4.36 out of 50, respectively. The mean score in the pediatric residents and pediatricians was 13.42 ± 2.02. and 14.62 ± 1.57 for knowledge and 40.66 ± 4.32 and 42.05 ± 4.35 for attitude, respectively. Regarding knowledge, 19 participants (23.8%) had a good score, 35 (43.8%) had a moderate score, and 26 (32.5%) had a poor score (p=0.24). There was a significant difference in terms of knowledge score among four academic groups (first-year resident, second-year resident, third-year resident, and pediatrician) (p=0.031), as the score wassignificantly higher in pediatricians than in residents (p=0.004). However, no significant difference was observed for attitude score (p=0.056). In general, and regarding all participants, no significant relationship was observed between attitude score and knowledge score (p=0.059).Conclusion: Most pediatric residents and pediatricians participating in the present study had moderate knowledge and attitude toward child abuse and neglect, and less than a quarter of the participants had good knowledge in this regard. Also, the pediatricians had significantly higher knowledge scores than the pediatric residents. These results emphasize the importance of more education for pediatric residents regarding child abuse and neglect and continuing education programs for pediatricians.
Maryam Salehian; Nahid Maleki-Saghooni; Fatemeh Zahra karimi
Abstract
Introduction:Child abuse is a global problem that is deeply rooted in the cultural, social, and economic performance of society. It is a behavior that occurs in various forms of physical, mental, emotional, or sexual, which can cause harm to the health, welfare, and education of the child. The present ...
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Introduction:Child abuse is a global problem that is deeply rooted in the cultural, social, and economic performance of society. It is a behavior that occurs in various forms of physical, mental, emotional, or sexual, which can cause harm to the health, welfare, and education of the child. The present study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of child abuse and its related factors in Iran.Methods:In the present systematic review study, to find articles related to the prevalence of child abuse in Iran, valid databases such as Scopus, PubMed, Cochrane, SID, Magiran, IranDoc, and Google Scholar was were searched using the keywords of “child abuse”, “physical abuse” “emotional abuse”,” neglect”, “prevalence” and “Iran”.Results: In this study, 22 articles were analyzed. Based on this review about 4.5%-58.2% of children reported physical abuse, 7.3%-91.6% emotional abuse, and 5.5%-85.3% neglect. Factors associated with child abuse were hyperactivity anxiety and mental status disorder. All studies showed a significant relationship of abuses with education, occupation, addiction, and divorce of parents. Moreover, depression and anxiety of parents and poor parental relationships were related to abuse of children. Conclusion: Child abuse has many negative effects on childish and adolescent health. It seems that child abuse in Iran is in critical condition; therefore, policymakers must take action to solve this problem and prevent it by designing special programs and effective policies in Iran.