The Effects of Undergraduate Nursing Education in Diagnosing the Symptoms of Child Abuse and Neglect

Abstract

Objective: Health professionals are expected to properly identify all the four dimensions of child abuse that are discussed as physical, sexual, emotional abuse, and neglect. This study was conducted to measure the impact of education given in the nursing department on the knowledge level of students about child neglect and abuse and to identify areas that require intervention. Materials and Methods: The population of this study is 425 students studying in all four grades of the nursing department. A sample was not determined, those who volunteered to participate and completed the questionnaire forms of the study were included (n=313, 74%). A questionnaire form for socio-demographic information and scale by Uysal were used to collect data. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences programme was used for data analysis. Results: Of the participants 64.9% were female and 74.4% did not want to receive an education on the topic. The mean total scale score was 244.92 ± 22.96 and the mean response to the items in the scale was 3.65. Compared with male students (240.85 ± 22.90), the total score of female students (247.15 ± 22.75) was significantly higher (p = 0.020). Compared with other grades, the total score of fourth grade students was significantly higher (p < 0.001). Conclusion: In the nursing education curriculum, topics related to child abuse and neglect should be included in each year. Higher participation of male students in these trainings should be ensured. Further studies on this topic should be conducted with students.

Keywords

• undergraduate education
• nursing
• student
• child abuse
• lisans eğitimi
• hemşirelik
• öğrenci
• çocuk i̇stismarı
• i̇hmal