Abstract

Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Teachers in Tabriz(Iran) Elementry Schools Regarding Child Abuse(2015-2016)

Author(s):Mohammad Hassan Sahebihagh, Seyedeh Zahra Hosseini, Mina Hosseinzadeh and Seyed Morteza Shamshirgaran

Child abuse is one of the most important health issues world wide. Teachers play an important role in identifying and reporting cases of child abuse since they are in direct confrontation with educational and behavioral issues, parent-child relationships, and support, care and development of childrenand can pursue the matter in case of family dysfunction.Thus, the current study is aimed at investigating knowledge, attitude and performance of Teachers of Elementry Scools regarding child abuse in Tabriz. In this descriptive study, stratified sampling was carried on elementaryschool teachers in 2015-2016 in Tabriz. Three hundered and thirty teachers employed in primary schools participated in the present study. Questionnaire was used to collect data. Data analysis was carried using SPSS, Vol. 23 through descriptive (mean and standard deviation) and analytical (Two Independent Samples Ttest and analysis of variance) statistics. The findings showed that 57.5 percent of teachers had moderate andless than moderateknowledge regarding child abuse causes,45 percent of participants had good knowledge of the signs, symptoms and complications of child abuse, and their total knowledge was moderate and less than moderate (55%). The participants had a favorable attitude toward dealing with child abuse (95.0 %), and their performance in dealing with child abuse was moderate and less than moderate(81.3 %). Teachershad moderate and less than moderateknowledge regarding child abuse, favorable attitude towards child abuse, and average performance in dealing with child abuse. This may be due to taking less training courses, fear of side issues of dealing with child abuse, or lack of clear legal guidelines for dealing with child abuse.

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