Nursing Students’ Perceptions of Child Abuse and Factors Influencing Those Perceptions

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate perceptions of child abuse and factors influencing those perceptions among nursing students. Methods: A descriptive research design was used with a convenience sample of 669 nursing students. Data was collected from September 1 to 25, 2016 using self-report questionnaires and analyzed with descriptive statistics, the t-test, analysis of variance, the Pearson correlation coefficient, and multiple regression analysis in SPSS for Windows version 21.0. Results: The mean score for perceptions of child abuse was 3.52±0.41, and the scores by subcategory were as follows: physical abuse, 3.61±0.39; emotional abuse, 3.54±0.53; neglect, 3.17±0.69; sexual abuse, 3.85±0.35. A significant correlation was found between perceptions of child abuse and parental acceptance-rejection attitude (warmth/affection, indifference/neglect, undifferentiated rejection). The factors influencing perceptions of child abuse were gender, experiences of child abuse, and perceived parental attitudes of warmth/affection and undifferentiated rejection, which explained 5.1% of the variances. Conclusion: Based on the finding of this study, educational programs and guidelines should be developed to help nursing students improve their perceptions of child abuse.

Nursing Students’ Awareness, Knowledge and Attitudes on Child Abuse

“…When analyzing child abuse perception by type, the perception of sexual abuse was the highest with the score of 4.91 out of 5, followed by physical abuse, mental abuse and neglect. The perception of child abuse also appeared in the same order as in the study of Ha [14] and Moon [15] using the same tool.…”

“…First, the child abuse awareness score was 175.42 points. Child abuse awareness is known to be influenced by gender, child abuse experience and child abuse prevention education [14,15] . In this study, it was found that the score was affected by gender.…”

Child Abuse Awareness and Reporting Intention among Nursing and Education Students

“…. Kim (2013) (Cho & Shin, 2013;Park, Kim, & Kang, 2015 (Cho & Chung, 2013;Ha, 2018), 간호대 학생과 일반대학생 (Moon, 2009), 간호사 (Min et al, 2017)…”