A Comparative Study to Assess the Knowledge on Child Abuse among Mothers Residing in Urban and Rural Community

Abstract

Child abuse is a serious physical and psycho-social problem which adversely affect the health and overall development of a child. It is very pathetic that many parents sometimes unknowingly abuse their child. Parents do not differentiate between the methods of disciplining the child and the form of abuse and neglect. The objective of the present study is to assess and compare the knowledge on child abuse among mothers residing in selected urban and rural community. Quantitative approach and descriptive research design was adopted for this comparative study. The study was conducted among hundred mothers who are having children below 12 years and who fulfill the inclusion criteria. The tool consisted of two parts. Section A included Demographic Variables such as Age, Religion, Education, Occupation, Monthly Income, and Type of family. Section B included Structured questionnaire to assess the knowledge on child abuse among mothers residing in selected urban and rural community. The results of the study revealed that Mean value of knowledge on child abuse among rural mothers was 12.44 and urban mothers was 11.98. When both the groups where compared it showed that t value -0.53 was statistically significant at P<0.001.. There was no significant association between the knowledge on child abuse among mothers residing in urban and rural community with their demographic variables. The study concluded that knowledge on child abuse was better among mothers residing in rural community than the urban mothers