Childhood is a most crucial period among all stages of human development. Most of the foundation for one's personality develops during this golden period. The children's perception of themselves and their relationship with others are molded based on the experiences and relationships that they come across during their childhood. Further, these experiences become internalized in a manner that they affect a person's quality of life. One of the most devastating childhood events that have significant long term and often lifelong consequences are child abuse and neglect [1].

Child maltreatment is broadly defined by the World Health Organization as child abuse or maltreatment as forms of physical and or emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect or negligent treatment or commercial exploitation that results in actual or potential harm to the child's health, survival, development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility, trust or power [2].

According to survey conducted by the government of India, Ministry of women and child development (2007), it was observed that the prevalence of all forms of child abuse is extremely high, particularly physical abuse (66%) and emotional abuse (50%). India has the dubious distinction of having the world’s largest number of sexually abused children; with a child below 16 years raped every 155th minute, a child below 10 every 13th hour and one in every 10 children are sexually abused at any point of time.

Objectives of the Study

• To assess the knowledge of mothers of under five children in selected community of Mashobra, Shimla, H.P.

• To develop and administer structured teaching program regarding child abuse among mothers of under five children in selected community of Mashobra, Shimla, H.P.

• To assess the effectiveness of structured teaching program regarding child abuse among mothers of under five children in selected community of Mashobra, Shimla, H.P.

To find out the association of knowledge score regarding child abuse among mothers of under five children with selected demographic variables in selected community of Mashobra, Shimla, H.P.

• Research Approach: Quantitative

• Research Design: Pre-experimental (one group pre-test post-test) research design

• Setting of the Research Study:  Community of Mashobra, Shimla H.P.

• Study Population: Mothers of under five children in Mashobra, Shimla, H.P.

• Sample Size: Sample size for the present study was 60 mothers

Sampling Technique

About 60 mothers were selected by convenient sampling technique: Convenient sampling technique is a non-probability sampling technique where subjects are selected because of their convenient accessibility and proximity to the researcher, because all the subjects was not available at the time of data collection. Mothers who were available at the time of study were selected as sample for study. 

Inclusion Criteria

• Mothers living in the rural community

• Mothers of under five children who are available during data collection period

• Mothers of under five children who understand Hindi or English

• Mothers who are willing to participate in the study

Exclusion Criteria

Mothers who are not available during the period of data collection and mothers of under five children who are not interested.

Development of Tool

A Structured questionnaires was constructed to assess the knowledge regarding child abuse among mothers of under five children. 

Description of Tool

Tool Consists of Two Parts as Part I and Part II. 

Part-I

It consists of demographic characteristics such as age of mother in years, education of mother, education of father, occupation of the mother, occupation of father, family income per month in (Rs.), type of family, number of under five children, source of information, previous knowledge about child abuse.

Part-II 

This part consists of self-structured questionnaire regarding child abuse which consists of 30 items. This tool consisted of multiple choice questions regarding child abuse. 

Validity of Tool

By the experts in this field.

Data Analysis and Interpretation

The collected data is tabulated, analyzed, organizes and presented under the following headings:

• Section-1: Findings related to frequency and percentage distribution of demographic characteristics (Mothers of under five children) regarding child abuse among mothers of under five children in selected community of Mashobra, Shimla, H.P.

• Section-2: Findings related to pre-test knowledge scores regarding child abuse among mothers of under five children in selected community of Mashobra, Shimla, H.P.

• Section-3: Findings related to post-test knowledge scores regarding child abuse among mothers of under five children in selected community of Mashobra, Shimla, H.P.

• Section-4: Findings related to effectiveness of Structured Teaching Programme (STP) related to knowledge regarding child abuse among mothers of under five children in selected community of Mashobra, Shimla, H.P.

• Section-5: Findings related to association of knowledge scores with selected demographic variables regarding child abuse among mothers of under five children in selected community of Mashobra, Shimla, H.P.

Section -1

Findings related to frequency and percentage distribution of demographic characteristics (Mothers of under five children) regarding child abuse among mothers of under five children in selected community of Mashobra, Shimla, H.P.

• According to age 21 (35.0%) of study subjects were in the age group of < 25 years, 23 (38.3%) were in the age group of 26-30 years, 12 (20.0%) were in the age group of 31-35 years, 4 (6.7%) were in the age group of > 35 years

• Education of mother in which 1 (1.7%) of mothers had no formal education, 4(6.7%) were primary passed, 7 (11.7%) were middle passed, 23 (38.3%) were matriculate, 14 (23.3%) had senior secondary education status, 4 (6.7%) were graduate, 7 (11.7%) were post graduate

• Education of father in which 3 (5.0%) of fathers had no formal education, 6(10.6%) were primary passed, 2 (3.3%) were middle passed, 26 (43.3%) were matriculate, 14 (23.3%) had senior secondary education status, 4 (6.7%) were graduate, 5 (8.3%) were post graduate

Table 1: Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Pre-Test Knowledge Score Regarding Child Abuse among Mothers of Under Five Children

Table 2: Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Post-Test Knowledge Score Regarding Child Abuse among Mothers of Under Five Children

Table 3:  Descriptive Statistical Findings on Effectiveness of Structured Teaching Programme (STP) Related to Knowledge Regarding Child Abuse among Mothers of Under Five Children

*Significance Level 0.05 

• Occupation status of mother in which 51 (85.0%) were house wife, 0 (0.0%) were self-employee, 8 (13.3%) were private employee, 1 (1.7%) were government employee

• Occupation status of father in which  7 (11.7%) were government employee, 58.3% (35%) were private employee, 14 (23.3%) were labourer, 4 (6.7%) were farmer

Monthly income of family in which 7 (11.7%) of mothers had family income less than 1000 rupees, 5 (8.3%) had monthly income between 1001-3000 rupees, 16 (26.7%) had monthly between 3001-5000 rupees, 32 (53.3%) had monthly income more than 5000 rupees.

Type of family in which 25 (41.7%) of mothers were belonged to nuclear family, 30 (50.0%) belonged to joint family, 2 (3.3%) were single parents, 3 (5.0%) of mothers belonged to extended family. 

Number of under five children in family in which 50 (83.3%) of mothers had 1 children, 7 (11.7%) had 2 children, 1 (1.7%) had 3 children, 2 (3.3%) mothers were more than 3 children. 

Source of knowledge in which 3 (5.0%) of mothers got knowledge from books, 7 (11.7%) of mothers got knowledge from health personnel, 44 (73.3%) of mothers got knowledge from mass media, 4 (6.7%) of mothers got knowledge from their relatives, 2 (3.3%) of mothers got knowledge from school.

Previous knowledge regarding child abuse in which13 (21.7%) of mothers had previous knowledge regarding child abuse, 22 (36.7%) had no knowledge regarding child abuse, 25 (41.7%) had knowledge to some extent.

Section-2

Findings related to pre-test knowledge scores regarding child abuse among mothers of under five children in selected community of Mashobra, Shimla, H.P.

The data presented in the Table 1 shows that 33.3% of mothers had inadequate knowledge (0-10) regarding child abuse, where as 65% of mothers had moderate knowledge (11-20) and 1.7% of mothers had adequate knowledge (21-30) regarding Child abuse.

Section-3

Findings related to post-test knowledge scores regarding child abuse among mothers of under five children in selected community of Mashobra, Shimla, H.P.

The data presented in the Table 2 shows that 0% of mothers had inadequate knowledge (0-10) regarding child abuse, where as 26.7% of mothers had moderate knowledge (11-20) and 73.3% of mothers had adequate knowledge (21-30) regarding Child abuse.

Section-4

Findings related to effectiveness of Structured Teaching Programme (STP) related to knowledge regarding child abuse among mothers of under five children in selected community of Mashobra, Shimla, H.P.

The data presented in the Table 3 shows that pre-test mean was 11.98, standard deviation was 3.553, mean percentage was 39.90% and in post-test mean was 21.75, standard deviation was 2.729, mean percentage was 72.50% and mean difference was 9.770. The mean post-test score (21.75) was higher than the mean pre-test knowledge score (11.98). The calculated ‘t’ value (24.807) was greater than the table value (t = 2.00) at 0.05 level of significance.H₁ was accepted, hence, it can be inferred that the Structured Teaching Programme was effective.

Section-5

Findings related to association of knowledge scores with selected demographic variables regarding child abuse among mothers of under five children in selected community of Mashobra, Shimla, H.P.

Shows that there is significant association between the pre-test knowledge score and socio demographic variable. The c2 value shows that there is significance association between the knowledge score level and demographic variables (Education of mother, source of information). There is no significance association between the level of knowledge scores and other demographic variables (Age of mother, education of father, occupation of mother, occupation of father, family income, type of family, under five children, and previous knowledge). The calculated c2 values were less than the table value at the 0.05 level of significance.

The association between the post-test knowledge score and socio demographic variable. The c2 value shows that there is significance association between the knowledge score and demographic variable (Age of mother). There is no significant association between the level of knowledge scores and other demographic variables (Education of mother, education of father, occupation of mother, occupation of father, family income, type of family, under five children, source of information and previous knowledge). The calculated c2 values were less than the table value at the 0.05 level of significance.

Result of study shows that in pre-test majority of study subjects 65% had moderate knowledge, 33.3% of mothers had inadequate knowledge and 1.7% of mothers had adequate knowledge regarding Child abuse. In post-test majority of study subjects 73.3% had adequate knowledge, 26.7% of mothers had moderate knowledge and 0% of mothers had inadequate knowledge regarding Child abuse. The mean score of post-test knowledge score (21.75) was higher than the pre-test knowledge score (11.98).The pre-test and post-test knowledge of mothers of under five children regarding Child abuse was calculated by using paired ‘t’ test which gave ‘t’ value 24.807 for knowledge which was greater than the table value (t = 2.00) at 0.05 level of significance. In mean percentage pre-test knowledge score was 39.90%.In the post-test mean percentage score was 72.50%. The mean difference percentage was 9.770%.The chi square value shows in the pre-test there is two variables (Education of mother and source of information) had significance association with knowledge score. In posttest there is only one variable (age of mother) had significance association with knowledge score.

Recommendations

• This study can be conducted in other area of large group

• This study may be replicated on large samples with different demographic variables

• A similar study may be done in different settings. e.g. School

• A comparative study can be conducted on mothers in rural and urban areas

• This study may be conducted to assess the knowledge, attitude and behavior of mothers regarding child abuse

• The study can done among adolescents to evaluate their knowledge regarding child abuse 

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6. World Health Organization. Child Maltreatment. World Health Organization, August 2021, https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/child-maltreatment.