A Study to Develop and Evaluate the Effectiveness of an Awareness Programme on Prevention of Child Abuse in Terms of Knowledge and Attitude of Parents Regarding Child Abuse in Rural Area of Selected District of Haryana, India

Parenting is a demanding task under the most ideal circumstances. The basic goals of parenting are: to promote the physical survival and health of the children, to foster the skills and abilities necessary to be self sustaining adults, to foster behavioural capabilities for maximising cultural values and beliefs. While plenty of advice is available to the parents for child rearing too often this advice is confusing and conflicting. The objectives of the study were to develop an awareness programme on Prevention of Child Abuse, to assess and evaluate the knowledge and attitude of the parents before and after administration of awareness programme on child abuse. The research approach adopted was evaluative pre experimental and research design selected was pre experimental one group pre test post test design. The variables under study were independent variable i. e. awareness programme on prevention of child abuse and dependent variable i. e. knowledge and attitude scores of the parents regarding child abuse. A Sample of 60 parents were selected by convenient sampling technique. The tools developed were structured interview schedule and attitude rating scale. The awareness program was developed which included a planned teaching programme and an information booklet on Prevention of Child Abuse for the parents. Data collection was done within the period from 15th Dec 2013 to 8th Jan 2014 at Village Ningana, District Rohtak of Haryana. The data obtained was tabulated and analyzed in terms of descriptive and inferential statistics. The major findings of the study revealed that the awareness programme was effective in enhancing the knowledge and changing attitude of parents regarding child abuse as evident from significant t value calculated from pre test and post test scores. Nurses can play an active role in prevention of child abuse by imparting knowledge and sensitizing parents about child abuse.