Nurses' knowledge and attitudes about children maltreatment in Jordan: A cross-sectional study

To examine nurses' knowledge and attitudes, and the factors influencing them regarding managing child maltreatment in Jordan's acute and primary care settings.

This is a descriptive cross-sectional study. Nurses (n = 523, 84 % female) caring for children in Jordan's acute and primary healthcare settings completed the Child Abuse Report Intention Scale. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data.

The mean total score of knowledge items was 4.9 (SD =2.6) out of 13. The mean total attitudes score towards protecting children from suspected maltreatment was 78.6 (SD = 12.27) out of 108. Only 42 % of the nurses intended to screen for child maltreatment in their practice, and 15 % did not consider children's physical punishment a form of maltreatment. Additionally, 66 % of nurses reported that each case of child maltreatment should be reported to the authorities, and 68 % indicated that they should advocate for abused children.

The significantly insufficient knowledge and fair attitude of nurses towards child maltreatment revealed by this study raises concerns regarding their preparedness for child protection in clinical practice.

The findings underscore the critical need for interventions to strengthen nurses' capacities to practice protective and advocacy roles in cases of child maltreatment in clinical settings. Such interventions have the potential to enhance child protection significantly. Stakeholders, such as healthcare administrators, play a key role in shaping the policies and practices. They can better address the limited nurses' knowledge and attitude issues and work towards fostering a safer environment for screening for and reporting child maltreatment.