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Awareness and perceptions of child maltreatment among medical students and interns: a cross-sectional study
Sara Owaidah1, Reham Alharaz1, Sara Aljubran1
1College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
Insights
Medical students and interns show good awareness of child maltreatment consequences but lack confidence in reporting procedures. Enhancing training is crucial to ensure child protection cases are not missed.
Area of Science:
- Medical Education
- Public Health
- Child Protection
Background:
- Child maltreatment is a global public health concern requiring vigilant identification by healthcare professionals.
- Medical staff play a critical role in reporting child abuse, necessitating thorough awareness and understanding of their responsibilities.
- Gaps in identifying and reporting child maltreatment can have severe short- and long-term consequences for victims.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the awareness and perceptions of child maltreatment among medical students and interns in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province.
- To identify factors influencing the reporting of child maltreatment cases by future healthcare professionals.
- To assess the adequacy of current medical training regarding child maltreatment identification and reporting.
Main Methods:
- A cross-sectional study utilizing a self-administered electronic questionnaire distributed to 341 medical students and interns.
- The questionnaire covered demographics, perceptions of maltreatment types, awareness of consequences, reporting policies, and barriers to reporting.
- Statistical analysis included chi-square tests and frequency distributions to analyze the collected data.
Main Results:
- While most participants recognized the severity and consequences of child maltreatment, less than half identified physical abuse as the most common form.
- A significant majority (78.9%) believed child maltreatment is often overlooked, and 90.9% supported mandatory reporting, even for non-fatal injuries.
- Key barriers to reporting included unclear procedures, fear of family repercussions, and uncertainty about the maltreatment's occurrence; only one-third felt adequately trained.
Conclusions:
- Medical students and interns possess substantial awareness of child maltreatment's impact but face challenges in reporting due to procedural gaps and personal concerns.
- There is a perceived need for enhanced community awareness regarding child maltreatment.
- Recommendations include implementing early and comprehensive training on child maltreatment identification and reporting protocols for all healthcare professionals.
Abstract:
Child maltreatment is an issue that burdens communities worldwide. Healthcare professionals, medical staff precisely, play a major role in the reporting responsibility, so it is crucial to ensure that none of the maltreatment cases are missed under medical supervision. This study aims to assess the awareness and perceptions of child maltreatment, and factors that affect reporting these cases among medical students and interns in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. A self-administered questionnaire consisting of five categories (demographic data, the most prevalent form of child maltreatment, awareness and perceptions of child maltreatment, awareness of reporting policy, and factors that contribute to lack of reporting) was distributed among the participants electronically. Data were analyzed using a chi-square test along with frequency distribution of the independent variables. Out of 341 participants, 57.2% were females, and the majority were in their senior years. Less than half of the participants (41.9%) believed that the most common form of child maltreatment is physical abuse. Most participants had adequate awareness of both short- and long-term consequences of child maltreatment. However, they believed that community members did not have adequate awareness about the issue. One-third of the participants believed that they received adequate education on the topic during their training. Furthermore, 78.9% of the participants thought that child maltreatment is often missed. Most participants (90.9%) believed that reporting child maltreatment must be mandatory even if the injuries were not fatal. The top three factors that prevented physicians from reporting child maltreatment were lack of understanding of the reporting procedure, fear of destroying family relationships, and doubt of the occurrence of child maltreatment. Early training and exposure to child maltreatment cases is recommended for all healthcare professionals.
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