A cross-sectional exploratory study of knowledge, attitudes, and practices of emergency health care providers in the assessment of child maltreatment in Maputo, Mozambique.
Abstract
BACKGROUND:In Mozambique, and other low-income countries (LICs), there is little information
on the burden of child maltreatment (CM). Emergency care services (ECS) play an important
role in recognizing, treating, and intervening in situations of CM. We aim to identify
knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding CM among health care providers in ECS
at Mavalane General Hospital in Maputo, Mozambique. METHODS:This exploratory cross-sectional
study evaluates the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of health care providers to
diagnose and treat cases of CM. A 25 min, pilot-tested verbal interview questionnaire
was administered to 49 physicians and nurses working in ECS at Mavalane General Hospital.
Interviews were completed between October-November 2010. Data were managed and analyzed
in SPSS 14.0 and descriptive statistics were generated. RESULTS:Of 49 health care
providers, 83.6% reporting receiving no, or very little CM education or training.
Only 61.2% had knowledge of physical abuse as a main form of child maltreatment and
38.8% were able to identify corresponding symptoms of physical abuse. Sexual abuse
as a main form of CM was mentioned by 26.5 and 2% cited its symptoms. While 87.7%
of health care providers strongly agreed or agreed that they hold an important role
in preventing CM, 51.1% also strongly disagreed or disagreed that they feel confident
diagnosing and treating CM cases. In regards to follow-up, 14.3% strongly disagreed
or disagreed that they know where to refer victims for further follow-up and an additional
14.3% did not know whether they agreed or disagreed. CONCLUSION:This study revealed
knowledge gaps in emergency health care provider knowledge of the main forms of CM
and their symptoms. The fact that a majority of health care providers in our sample
did not receive information specific to CM in their medical education and training
could explain this gap, as well as their unawareness of where to refer victims. Given
that health care providers believe they play an important role in identifying and
treating CM, future research should focus on raising physician awareness of CM and
developing education and training materials grounded in cultural contexts to build
response capacity in Mozambique and other LICs.
Type
Journal articleSubject
HumansCross-Sectional Studies
Attitude of Health Personnel
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Child Abuse
Adult
Middle Aged
Child
Health Personnel
Emergency Service, Hospital
Mozambique
Female
Male
Surveys and Questionnaires
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/22019Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1186/s12873-018-0162-9Publication Info
Pinto, Liliana; Lein, Adriana; Mahoque, Raquel; Wright, David W; Sasser, Scott M;
& Staton, Catherine A (2018). A cross-sectional exploratory study of knowledge, attitudes, and practices of emergency
health care providers in the assessment of child maltreatment in Maputo, Mozambique.
BMC emergency medicine, 18(1). pp. 11. 10.1186/s12873-018-0162-9. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/22019.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Catherine Ann Staton
Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine
Catherine Staton MD MSc
Dr. Staton is an Associate Professor in Emergency Medicine (EM), Neurosurgery & Global
Health with tenure at Duke University. She is the Director of the GEMINI (Global EM
Innovation & Implementation) Research Center and the EM Vice Chair of Research Strategy
& Faculty Development. Her research integrates innovative implementation methods into
health systems globally to improve access to acute care. In 2012, with an injury registry
at Kilimanjaro Chr

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