Investigation of Awareness of Students On Child Neglect and Abuse and Their Attitudes Towards Reporting Child Neglect and Abuse

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the awareness of nursing department students about child neglect and abuse and their attitudes about reporting cases of child neglect and abuse. Material and Methods: The study population consisted of 464 students studying at the Department of Nursing of the Faculty of Health Sciences of a university. No sampling was performed in the study, and 331 students who agreed to participate in the research were included in the study. The data were collected using the Personal Information Form, The Diagnosis Scale of The Risks and Symptoms of Child Abuse and Neglect and the Healthcare Provider Attitudes Toward Child Maltreatment Reporting Scale. The research data were collected by the researchers by face-to-face interview method between March-April 2022.In the analysis of the data, percentage distributions, averages, the t-test, one-way analysis of variance, and correlation analysis were used. Results: The Diagnosis Scale of the Risks and Symptoms of Child Abuse and Neglect score average of the students participating in the study was 3.66±0.41, and their score average on the Healthcare Provider Attitudes Toward Child Maltreatment Reporting Scale was 67.14±7.47. A significant difference was found between the students' gender, year in school, the status of having received a course/lesson/training on neglect and abuse, and their average scores on The Diagnosis Scale of The Risks and Symptoms of Child Abuse and Neglect and the Healthcare Provider Attitudes Toward Child Maltreatment Reporting Scale. It was found that there was a positive and significant relationship between students' knowledge levels on child abuse and neglect and their attitudes towards reporting child abuse. Conclusion: Professionals working in the field of health have an important role in the prevention, detection and treatment of abuse and neglect cases. For this reason, education of professionals, society, families and children working on this issue is at the forefront of the actions that need to be aware of to identify and report neglect and abuse.