A comparative study to assess the knowledge regarding child abuse among parents residing in selected rural and urban areas of Jalandhar, Punjab

A child is a tender human being which needs support in all forms for its all-round development. It is very pathetic that many parents unknowingly abuse their child sometimes. They do not differentiate between the methods of disciplining the child and the form of abuse and neglect. The present study aimed to assess the knowledge regarding child abuse among parents residing in selected rural and urban areas of Jalandhar, Punjab. A quantitative research approach and comparative research design was used and study was carried out in selected rural and urban areas in Jalandhar, Punjab. Total 100 parents were selected with Purposive sampling technique i.e. 50 from rural and 50 from urban areas. Written consent was taken from the sample. Self-structured knowledge questionnaire containing 34 questions was used to evaluate the knowledge of parents regarding child abuse. Results depicted that mean knowledge score of parents residing in rural areas was 19.64±5.44 and mean knowledge score of parents residing in urban areas was 24.22±5.81. This difference in the mean scores was statistically significant at p<0.001 level. Hence it was inferred that parents residing in urban areas had more knowledge regarding child abuse than parents residing in rural areas