Corporal Punishment: Rhode Island Physicians' Perceptions, Experience and Education.

Corporal punishment (CP) is defined as inflicting pain to redirect an undesired behavior. The objective of the current study is to assess Rhode Island physicians' perceptions, experiences and education regarding CP. Our data may be used to inform future research and education/training for health care providers on how to provide guidance and have conversations surrounding CP. We developed an anonymous survey that assessed the perceptions, experiences and training of Hasbro Children Hospital physicians regarding CP in the medical setting. A total of 58 physicians responded; participants responded that CP was never effective for improving behavior (67.2%) and never recommended CP (98.2%) to patient families. However, most participants reported never received education on CP (67.9%). Our findings highlight that pediatric providers do not find CP an appropriate method of discipline and underscore the need for standardized training and education surrounding this issue.