Owaidah Sara, Alharaz Reham, Aljubran Sara, Almuhanna Zahra, AlMusailhi Jawaher, Abualait Turki, Al-Sheikh Mona, Al Ghamdi Kholoud
College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
BMC Prim Care. 2025 Feb 14;26(1):41. doi: 10.1186/s12875-025-02729-w.
Child maltreatment is an issue that burdens communities worldwide. Healthcare professionals, medical staff precisely, play a major role in the reporting responsibility, so it is crucial to ensure that none of the maltreatment cases are missed under medical supervision. This study aims to assess the awareness and perceptions of child maltreatment, and factors that affect reporting these cases among medical students and interns in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. A self-administered questionnaire consisting of five categories (demographic data, the most prevalent form of child maltreatment, awareness and perceptions of child maltreatment, awareness of reporting policy, and factors that contribute to lack of reporting) was distributed among the participants electronically. Data were analyzed using a chi-square test along with frequency distribution of the independent variables. Out of 341 participants, 57.2% were females, and the majority were in their senior years. Less than half of the participants (41.9%) believed that the most common form of child maltreatment is physical abuse. Most participants had adequate awareness of both short- and long-term consequences of child maltreatment. However, they believed that community members did not have adequate awareness about the issue. One-third of the participants believed that they received adequate education on the topic during their training. Furthermore, 78.9% of the participants thought that child maltreatment is often missed. Most participants (90.9%) believed that reporting child maltreatment must be mandatory even if the injuries were not fatal. The top three factors that prevented physicians from reporting child maltreatment were lack of understanding of the reporting procedure, fear of destroying family relationships, and doubt of the occurrence of child maltreatment. Early training and exposure to child maltreatment cases is recommended for all healthcare professionals.
儿童虐待是一个困扰着全球社区的问题。确切地说，医疗保健专业人员，即医务人员，在报告责任方面发挥着重要作用，因此确保在医疗监督下不漏掉任何虐待案件至关重要。本研究旨在评估沙特阿拉伯东部省份医学生和实习生对儿童虐待的认识和看法，以及影响报告这些案件的因素。一份由五类问题组成的自填式问卷（人口统计学数据、儿童虐待最普遍的形式、对儿童虐待的认识和看法、报告政策的知晓情况以及导致未报告的因素）通过电子方式分发给参与者。使用卡方检验以及自变量的频率分布对数据进行分析。在341名参与者中，57.2%为女性，大多数处于高年级。不到一半的参与者（41.9%）认为儿童虐待最常见的形式是身体虐待。大多数参与者对儿童虐待的短期和长期后果都有足够的认识。然而，他们认为社区成员对这个问题的认识不足。三分之一的参与者认为他们在培训期间接受了关于该主题的充分教育。此外，78.9%的参与者认为儿童虐待情况经常被漏报。大多数参与者（90.9%）认为即使伤害不致命，报告儿童虐待也必须是强制性的。阻碍医生报告儿童虐待的三大因素是对报告程序不了解、担心破坏家庭关系以及对儿童虐待是否发生存疑。建议对所有医疗保健专业人员进行早期培训并让他们接触儿童虐待案例。
