아동학대에 대한 종합병원 간호사의 인식도 조사

Abstract

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to examine the general hospital nurses' perceptions of child abuse. Methods: A questionnaire survey was conducted for 143 nurses working at an inpatient ward of a tertiary general hospital in Busan from Feb 1 to 28 2004. Results: Most of the surveyed nurses perceived physical or sexual abuse as child abuse, but fewer of them responded that child abuse includes non-external damage such as emotional abuse or nonintervention. The surveyed nurses were found perceiving child abuse very serious when provided virtual cases of the abuse, obtaining 46.45±3.76 in average score for the perception of child abuse severity. But physical punishment for discipline was regarded as a less severe child abuse. Of the 84 (58.8%) nurses who recognized that they were obliged to report child abuse cases, 12 (8.4%) knew that the phone number for the report. When asked about whether the mandatory child abuse report would help prevent and treat such abuse, 93.1% of the nurses responded that the system would be effective. Out of the surveyed subjects, 90.9% regarded the establishment of child protection system as a prerequisite for the mandatory system of child abuse report, followed by 51.1%, ensuring the confidentiality of child abuse reporters and 47.6%, strengthening public relations and education about the mandatory system. Also, 95.1% of the surveyed nurses responded they would report child abuse when they observe it. Conclusions: Nurses perceive the child abuse much more seriously than by any persons who are responsible for reporting such abuse. They also have a strong will to report the cases of child ill-treatment. Nurses would play an important role as child abuse reporters because they have many chances of observing such problematic situation.