Prevalence and Contributing Factors of Childhood Physical Abuse in Households and at Schools among School Adolescents in Arba Minch Town, Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Though millions of children around the world are the victims and witnesses of physical abuse, every child has the right to health and a life free from violence. Therefore the objective of this study was to assess Prevalence and Contributing Factors of Childhood Physical Abuse in Households and in schools among School adolescents, Arba Minch Town. Methods: Institution based cross sectional study design was employed from Jan 11 to Feb 11/2016. The sample size of 737 was selected through multi-stage sampling techniques. Data were collected through self-administered questionnaire and interview from 7th to 10th grade students and analyzed by SPSS (IBM 20). Descriptive statistics, bivariate and multiple variable analyses were done. Results: A total of 718 (97.4 %) school children were participated in the study. Among them, 462 (64%) students faced childhood physical abuse. Of these, 77.3% abused by parents and 58.4% abused by school community. Age, sex (AOR=2.439; 95% CI=1.370, 4.348), presence of domestic violence (AOR=8.929; 95% CI=4.292, 18.519) and where the child grown up (AOR=0.460; 95% CI=0.220, 0.940) were contributing factors for childhood physical abuse. Conclusions: Majority of children in Arba Minch town have experienced childhood physical abuse at household and school environment.