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Masters Thesis | Pediatric Nursing | India | Volume 12 Issue 8, August 2023 | Rating: 5.1 / 10
Exploring Parental Opinion, Attitudes and Practices: A Comparative Study on Child Care and Protection in Rural and Urban Communities in National Capital Region, India
Geeta Gulati | Manju Vatsa | Sanjeev Kumar Gupta [2]
Abstract: Background: Children are at risk of exploitation, abuse, violence and neglect as they are minors by law, innocent, dependant and defenseless. Parents play a significant role in child care and protection. Objective: To assess and compare opinion, attitude and practices of parents regarding care and protection of children in selected rural and urban community. Materials and Methods: This was a descriptive cross sectional survey which included 400 parents; 200 from rural (Dayalpur village, Haryana) and 200 from urban area (Dr. Ambedkar Nagar, Dakshinpuri Extension, New Delhi). The data were collected using a structured interview schedule and analyzed using SPSS 17.0 and STATA 11.2 software. Results: All parents considered the Care of a child as mother?s responsibility. The need of a child to be protected from sexual abuse and domestic violence was opined by 99.5% and 95.5% parents, respectively. Significantly higher number of urban parents as compared to rural had opinion that a child needs to be protected from psychological abuse and neglect (55.0% vs. 37.0%, 61.0% vs. 37.0%, p< 0.001) respectively. The widespread belief was that commonly girls are victims of sexual abuse (99.5%). Majority of parents (99.8%) had positive attitude towards child care and protection. In majority of families mother generally punished the children at home (64.8%). Conclusions: Possibility of physical and sexual abuse of children was identified but there was lack of awareness regarding psychological abuse and neglect. Public education is required by community health personnel on parenting skills and care and protection issues.
Keywords: opinion, attitude, practices, care, protection, child abuse, rural, urban
Edition: Volume 12 Issue 8, August 2023,
Pages: 2188 - 2193