Knowledge and Perception of Child Abuse among the Adolescent Girls in Some Selected Schools in Dhaka City

Background About 40 million children under the age of 18 years are estimated to suffer from abuse and neglect around the world. Child abuse in developing countries, including South Asia, is yet to be recognized as a major social and public health problem with an enormous burden on the economy and society. The present study conducted to find out the level of knowledge and perception of child abuse among the adolescent girls in some selected high schools in Dhaka city. Method This cross sectional descriptive study was conducted among 149 adolescent girl students of class VIII, IX and X of three purposively selected high schools in Dhaka city namely Kakoli High School, Rayer Bazar High School, and YWCA Higher Secondary Girls’ School. Results Mean±SD of age of the respondents was 14.23±0.90 years with a range of 13 to 16 years. Majority of them (61.7%) were in the age group of 13-14 years. When the respondents were asked from where they got information about child abuse, majority (123), 82% stated that they heard from TV, other common sources were news paper 65 (43%) and parents 36 (24%). In the present study out of 149 respondents said that physical abuse (66.4%) is more prevalent in our country than mental (55.7%) and sexual (29.5%) abuse. In the present study the respondents thought that child was abused by nearest relative, by servant, by teacher, by father, by mother, by brother and sister and by others 47.1%, 27.2%, 20.6%, 18.6%, 17.9%, 9.3% and 24.8% respectively. In the present study opinion of the respondents were sought as to how to prevent child abuse, increase peoples’ awareness, enforcement of law, and increase general level of education of the people and parents awareness about child mentality were the prominent opinions. The responses were scored and graded. Mean±SD of scores of knowledge was 11.7±2.5 with a range of 5-17. Only about 13% had high score while 30% scored poor. Mean±SD of scores of perception was 27.9±4.4 with a range of 14-35. Perception score of ‘poor’ grade was observed in 22% respondents and that of ‘good’ grade in 32% respondents. Relationship between knowledge score and perception score was examined by correlation analysis and a weak positive correlation was observed with correlation coefficient, r=0.186 (p=0.023). The mean±SD of scores of perception among Kakoli High School was 28.78±3.65, among the respondent among Rayer Bazar School was 26.93±5.056) and among the respondents of YWCA was 28.81±2.6. The mean±SD of score of knowledge among Kakoli School was 11.93±2.4, among the respondents of in Rayar Bazar School 11.01±2.34 and among the respondents of YWCA School was 13.52±2.01. From this study it was revealed that the knowledge and perception about child abuse is considerably significant. But in reality to counter the child abuse is not much practiced in our society. Therefore, the importance of child abuse should be focused and generalized with high priority.