THE PERCEPTION OF CONSULTANTS AND THE POST-GRADUATION RESIDENTS ABOUT THE BARRIERS TO THE REPORTING OF SUSPECTED CASES OF CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLIGENCE

Abstract

The main objective of the study is to determine the perception of consultants and post-graduation residents regarding barriers to the reporting of suspected cases of child abuse and negligence. The data for this study was obtained by developing a questionnaire containing variables studied by another research on child abuse in Turkey (Pakis et al., 2015) which was administered in a pilot study done in Lahore General Hospital, validated and then applied to a population of 108 doctors including consultants and post-graduation residents of various specialities and clinical experience in the wards of various specialities at two teaching hospitals of Lahore. The results revealed that, “Lack of knowledge about the process of reporting” was the most frequent variable reported as a barrier by 80.6% of the doctors studied among whom 25% were consultants and 55.6% were residents with a p- value of 0.00027. The deficiency of guidelines on the process of reporting is considered by the doctors studied as the most frequent barrier to the reporting of suspected cases of child abuse and negligence.