الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Violence toward minors is a widespread phenomenon. Data on the prevalence of this issue varies from country to other based on the available documentation systems. Various international and national programs and policies aimed at mitigating abuse against these victims. Complete understanding and awareness of the phenomenon is important. An alarming part about this issue is that a great proportion of cases are undiagnosed and unreported. The aim of the present study was to assess the knowledge, attitudes and reporting behaviour of target physicians in Alexandria University teaching hospitals toward CM. in addition to measure the magnitude of the recorded CM problem within Alexandria and finally to formulate guideline steps to be followed by physicians within Alexandria university hospital in case of dealing with CM cases. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at three hospitals affiliated to Alexandria University: Main University Hospital, El-Shatby hospital and El-Hadara hospital. All physicians working regularly in emergency units who had frequent contact with child maltreatment cases were invited to complete a self-administered questionnaire after ethical approval of The Institutional Review Board of Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University and obtaining a verbal consent from the participants. Data collected included sociodemographic characteristics of participants, knowledge of and formal training on CM, attitude toward such issue, also experience with child maltreatment cases and reporting behaviour. Moreover an observational checklist was used to collect data regarding reported CM cases directly from General Committee for Child Protection, Alexandria Governorate for the year 2019. The data focused on the incidence, child and alleged perpetrator characteristics, data related to CM, the investigational process and different type of interventions for those cases. |