INTRODUCTION:

Child abuse is a state of emotional, physical, economic and sexual maltreatment meted out to a person below the age of eighteen and is a globally prevalent phenomenon. However, in India, as in many other countries, there has been no understanding of the extent, magnitude and trends of the problem. The growing complexities of life and the dramatic changes brought about by socio-economic transitions in India have played a major role in increasing the vulnerability of children to various and newer forms of abuse.¹

Child abuse has serious physical and psycho-social consequences which adversely affect the health and overall well-being of a child. According to WHO: ''Child abuse or maltreatment constitutes all forms of physical and/or emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect or negligent treatment or commercial or other exploitation, resulting in actual or potential harm to the child's health, survival, development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility, trust or power.'' ²

The first documented case of child abuse occurred in New York in 1874. The factors believed to contribute to child maltreatment were poverty, drugs and teen pregnancy. In 1996, approximately, 1046 children died from inflicted injuries or neglect. It was a 20% increase since 1995. The majority of these children (77%) were less than 5 years old and 45% were less than one year old when they died.³

There is a large child population in India which is vulnerable to abuse, exploitation and neglect. There is also inadequate information about the extent of child abuse in the country. Barring a few sporadic studies, with limited scope, the attempt to understand the different forms and magnitude of child abuse across the country has been inadequate.⁷ The most common form of child maltreatment is neglect, child abuse, sexual abuse constitute approximately 25%, 13%, 5% respectively.⁸

Bangalore-based NGO Samvada undertook one of the first specific studies on CSA through a series of workshops for 348 girls aged between 15 and 21 years, who were from 11 schools and colleges in Karnataka. The study reported that 47 per cent of the girls had been molested or had experienced sexual overtures, and 15 per cent had been subjected to serious sexual abuse, including rape. One out of three children was under 10 years old when the abuse started.⁹

Among the observed case there were incidence where parents specially mothers were not aware of problem of child abuse. Because of fear of social stigma parents were reluctant to report the cases to authorities concern. So the researcher felt a need to study awareness about child abuse among mothers.

OBJECTIVES:

To assess the level of knowledge of the mothers regarding child abuse in selected rural areas.

To find association between level of knowledge of mothers and their selected demographic variables.

HYPOTHESIS:

H1- There will be significant association between the mean level of knowledge of mothers regarding child abuse and their selected demographic variables.

MATERIALS AND METHOD:

Research Approach:

A Quantitative descriptive survey approach was used to collect data for the study.

Research Design:

The research design selected for the present study is non- Experimental descriptive research design.

Research Variable: In this study level of knowledge of mothers regarding child abuse.

Demographic Variables:

Age, education, occupation of mother, history of child abuse in the family, history of substance abuse in the family and type of family.

Setting of The Study:

The study was conducted on mothers who are residing at Piparia and Waghodia village.

Sample and Sample Size:

Sample comprised of mothers of children who are residing in Piparia and Waghodia village and having children below the age of 18 years and willing to participate. Sample size was 100 mothers.

Sampling Technique:

Sampling procedure adopted was purposive sampling.

Description of the Tool:

Tool was developed by the investigator based on his experience, review of literature, and expert’s opinion and it consist 2 parts. 1) Demographic variables. 2) Knowledge questionnaires.

1) Demographic Data:

It consists of demographical variables such as age of mother, education, occupation of mothers, history of substance abuse in family, type of family.

2) Knowledge Questionnaire Data:

Questionnaire on mothers’ awareness regarding child abuse. Structured knowledge questionnaire consisting of 25 items on awareness regarding child abuse. All items are given score of one for each correct answer and zero score for wrong answer. The items are based on various areas of child abuse which includes the General abuse - 9 items, Physical abuse - 4 items, Neglect – 3 items, Emotional abuse – 2 items, Sexual abuse – 3 items, Prevention of child abuse - 4 items.

Reliability:

The tool after validation was subjected to test for its reliability. The questionnaire was administered to 5 mothers. The reliability was established by using Karl Pearson’s formula. Co-efficient of correlation found to be r = 0.7. Hence tool was found reliable.

Pilot Study:

Pilot study is a small scale version or trial run done in preparation of the main study. Pilot study was conducted in Limda village from 8/4/15 to 11/4/15 in order to check the feasibility and practicability of the study. The investigator obtained written permission from the concerned authorities and samples prior to the study. Topic of the study was explained to the subjects and confidentiality was assured. Tool was administered to 20 samples who fulfilled the criteria for selection. Questionnaire was administered to each mother. They were asked to place a tick mark against the specific alphabet whichever they felt correct.

Data Collection Process:

To conduct research study in the selected rural areas, formal written permission was obtained from Sarapanch of respected areas, after explaining the nature and objective of the study. Confidentiality of responses was assured to all the subjects to get their co-operation. The researcher approached each subject individually. After the self-introduction of the investigator, an informed consent was taken from all the subjects individually, after explaining the objectives, Data was collected from mothers of children up to the age group of 18 years of rural areas. The data collection period was from 20/4/15 to 30/4/15. At the end of the data collection the respondents were thanked for their co-operation.

Plan for Data Analysis:

Collected data were planned to be analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistics.

Section-I:

Analysis of awareness regarding child abuse among mothers: Awareness will be presented by frequency and percentage table.

Section –II:

Association of awareness scores regarding child abuse among mothers with selected Demographic variables: Association between the awareness scores with selected demographic variables would be analyzed using chi-square test.

RESULTS:

Frequency and percentage distribution in level of knowledge regarding child abuse among mothers.

Level of Knowledge	Pre-test
Level of Knowledge	Frequency	Percentage
Poor	51	51
Average	49	49
Good	0	0
Total	100	100

Above table depicts the classification of level of knowledge regarding child abuse among mothers. 51 (51%) had poor knowledge, 49(49%) were average and 0(0%) were good knowledge.

Association of knowledge regarding child abuse among mothers with selected demographic variables.

Sr. no.	Demographic variables					Total	Chi square		Df	Association
Sr. no.	Demographic variables		Poor	Average	Good	Total	Calculated value	Table value	Df	Association
1	Age	18-25 years	20	12	0	32	3.327	9.49	4	Non Significant
		26-30 years	24	26	0	50
		31-35 years	6	8	0	14
		36-40 years	1	3	0	4
		41-45 years	0	0	0	0
2	Education	Illiterate	19	1	0	20	20.22	5.99	2	Significant
		Primary school	18	32	0	50
		High school	14	16	0	30
		Graduate	0	0	0	0
		Above graduate	0	0	0	0
3	Occupation	House wife	28	11	0	39	12.24	5.99	2	Significant
		Labourer	22	33	0	55
		Private employee	1	5	0	6
		Government	0	0	0	0
		Specify	0	0	0	0
4	Substance use	Yes	30	26	0	56	0.337	3.84	1	Not Significant
4	Substance use	No	21	23	0	44	0.337	3.84	1	Not Significant
5	Type of family	Nuclear	34	29	0	63	0.600	3.84	1	Not Significant
5	Type of family	Joint	17	20	0	37	0.600	3.84	1	Not Significant
	Total		51	49	0	100