Knowledge and attitude on child abuse among school teachers in selected schools of sehore district

Introduction: Child abuse continues to be one of the primary threats to the child’s emotional and social well-being globally. As students spend maximum time in school, teachers need to be trained to recognize physical and behavioural changes associated with abuse in order to confidently determine the cause and plan interventions appropriately. The inadequate knowledge and information lead to gap in the crucial role of teachers in identification and early assistance of an abused child.
Objectives: The objectives of the study were to assess the knowledge of the school teachers on child abuse, to determine the attitude of school teachers on identification and reporting of child abuse and to find the association between the knowledge and attitude with the selected demographic variables.
Methods: A descriptive survey design was used to conduct the study. Study was conducted among 200 school teachers from selected schools, in Sehore district. The instruments used for data collection were a structured knowledge questionnaire on child abuse and the attitude scale on identification and reporting of child abuse.
Results: Majority of the school teachers (84%) had average knowledge on child abuse whereas, all the teachers had favourable attitude towards identification and reporting of child abuse. With regard to association between knowledge and selected demographic variables, there was no significant association found except for previous knowledge on child abuse (p <.05).
Conclusion: Child abuse is a global issue and children face abuse in many forms and more awareness will help in combating the issues and problems with abuse. The knowledge of the school teachers needs to be enhanced by conducting awareness program on child abuse.