The impact of selected demographic variables on the knowledge, attitudes and practices of Jordanian nurses regarding child abuse

Abstract EN

This descriptive study aims to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices'of Jordanian nurses' working with children regarding child abuse and investigating the impact of selected demographic variables on the dependent variables of the study.

The target population for the study was all nurses providing nursing care to children.

A random duster sample of 353 nurses involved in the provision of oare for children attending various health oare settings was selected.

A structured questionnaire to measure the study variables was developed by the researchers and tested for validity and reliability.

The results indicated that 50.9% of the nurses reflected an above average of knowledge (Mean=3.55, SD=0.53)nonc of the respondents indicated a positive attitudes regarding abusive behavior (Mean =1.93, SD= 0.75) and 54.7% reflected above average acceptable practices when intervening with situations of child abuse (Mean=3.42, SD=0.53).

The nurses' knowledge was influenced by the place of residence; knowledge of those who reside in the south was significantly higher from those residing in the other two regions.

While their attitudes was influenced, by the place of residence, wh-;re positive attitudes of those who reside in the south was found as compared to those who reside in the north, and their attitudes were as well influenced by the years of experience.

In general, nurses who have 1-5 years of experience reflected more positive attitudes compared to those who have less than one year of experience.

Practices wsre influenced by the nurses' age, those who were between 26 to 30 years reflected significantly acceptable practices than those who were between 20 to 25 yes.rs, educational level, where diploma graduates have more acceptable practices compared to those holding a diploma in midwifery, years of experience in pediatrics, nurses v?ho have 1-5 years and those who have 6-11 years of pediatric experience reflected more acceptable practices oompared to those who have less than one year of experience f ,nd income, nurses whose income is less than 200 JDs, have a less acceptable practices than those whose income ranges between 251-300 JDs.

Conclusions, implications und recommendations were outlined based on the study results.