Child Abuse and Neglect in India

Awareness and Professional Responses in Managing Cases of Child Abuse and Neglect (CAN) among Dental Students, General Dentists, and Pedodontists of Bengaluru City, India

Aim

The aim is to assess the awareness and professional responsibilities of pedodontists, general dentists, and dental students concerning suspected child abuse and to explore their professional experiences with this issue.

Material and methods

A cross-sectional questionnaire study was conducted among 400 conveniently selected general dentists, pedodontists, and dental students in Bengaluru city. Self-administered, structured, both open- and closed-ended questionnaires were used to elicit information about their experience (if any) with suspected/confirmed cases of Child Abuse and Neglect (CAN). Responses to open-ended items were grouped based on common responses. Descriptive statistics and Chi-squared tests were used to analyze the data.

Results

About 15.6% suspected a case of CAN based on physical indicators, and 8% reported a confirmed case of CAN that was based on conflicting history from child to parent. Counseling of both child and parent, followed by a proper recording of history, was the action taken for suspected cases. In addition, counseling of parents followed by reporting to concerned authorities was done for confirmed cases. About 18.4% observed a change in the child's behavior that was predominantly scared and submissive. Counseling of the child/parent/caretaker was the preferred approach, followed by reporting to concerned authorities. Pedodontists preferred to create public awareness, and dental students preferred to report to concerned authorities.

Conclusion

The exposure to a suspected or confirmed case of CAN was very less in the present study. Not many participants who encountered a child abuse case opted to report it to higher authorities and rather focused on counseling the parent/family. The role of pedodontists was found to be crucial since most reported cases were from their end; however, dental students showed a greater interest in managing a case of CAN. There is a need to create more awareness regarding the management of CAN cases among dentists and students.

Clinical significance

CAN is a major problem around the world that can have long-term adverse effects on Children. The first step in intervention is awareness and identification of CAN cases.

How to cite this article

Sampangi Ramegowda AB, Kumar VD, Bhatnagar S, et al. Awareness and Professional Responses in Managing Cases of Child Abuse and Neglect (CAN) among Dental Students, General Dentists, and Pedodontists of Bengaluru City, India. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2023;16(4):619-625.

Profiles of abuse and neglect and the association with mental health indicators among a large sample of boys and girls from India

BACKGROUND

Child abuse and neglect (CAN) is a major public health concern, but limited data are available on the occurrence, co-occurrence, and correlates of these phenomena outside Western societies.

OBJECTIVES

The first aim of this study was to establish the prevalence of CAN across two settings (inside and outside the home) among children and adolescents in Mumbai, India. Another aim was to use latent class analysis (LCA) to identify meaningful profiles of maltreatment, and to examine how class membership is associated with mental wellbeing.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

Self-report data was collected from males (n = 4454; M_age = 12.77 years) and females (n = 3850; M_age = 12.87) at secondary schools.

RESULTS

Four latent classes of maltreatment were identified among males, including 'low victimisation' (50.4% of participants), 'intra-familial non-sexual abuse' (34.6%), 'intra- and extra- familial non-sexual abuse' (10.2%), and 'poly-victimisation' (4.8%). Among females, three latent classes were identified including, 'low victimisation' (68.1%), 'intra-familial non-sexual abuse' (28.8%), and 'poly-victimisation' (3.0%). Compared to the 'low victimisation' class, children in the abuse classes demonstrated higher levels of anxiety and depression and increased odds of self-injurious thoughts and behaviours. These associations were augmented for girls relative to boys.

CONCLUSION

There were very few maltreated children who were subjected to just one form of CAN and experiencing co-occurring patterns of abuse and neglect was associated with indicators of poor mental health, especially among girls. These findings highlight the complexity of the situation and will inform policy makers, health professionals and school counsellors.

Association of childhood psychological trauma with eating disorders in undergraduate medical students

AIM

The aim of the study was to study the association of childhood psychological trauma with eating disorders (EDs) and to assess and compare the relationship with food, concerns about weight gain, and restrictive or compensatory practices in male and female undergraduate medical students.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A cross-sectional, analytical study was performed in a Tertiary Care Medical College and Research Hospital in a suburban area of India. After obtaining ethical clearance, 100 final-year undergraduate students were included in the study with their informed consent. Self-made questionnaire, Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, Stirling ED Scale with Disordered Eating Attitude Scale were used. Spearman's correlation coefficient (Rho) was calculated.

RESULTS

There was a significant correlation of history of childhood psychological trauma in the form of emotional abuse, emotional neglect or physical abuse and physical neglect with higher prevalence of disordered eating behaviors and relationship with food, concern about weight gain, and compensatory practices. No significant relationship was found in a history of sexual abuse.

CONCLUSION

The importance of a healthy psychosocial upbringing and nurturing by parents to prevent development of psychiatric comorbidities is an important finding in this study.

Abusive head trauma: Canadian and global perspectives

Canada has come a long way since Dr. C. Henry Kempe first described battered-child syndrome in 1962. The year 1999 was crucial in Canada's battle against shaken baby syndrome/abusive head trauma (SBS/AHT), when the first national conference on the topic was held in Saskatoon. This was followed by the issuance of a national statement and multidisciplinary guidelines, recently updated in 2020. Incidence of AHT in Canada is similar to that found in population-based studies from Switzerland and New Zealand. The mainstay of prevention of AHT in Canada is education of parents and caregivers with respect to their response to infant crying. Population-based data for global incidence of AHT are lacking, largely because of social and cultural differences contributing to poor understanding of AHT as a medico-legal entity. India faces a distinct challenge in the battle against female feticide and infanticide.

Awareness of child abuse and neglect among working parents in Chennai, India: A knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) survey

Background:

Child abuse and neglect is one of the foremost growing public health problems in India. In the current scenario, there is an increasing frequency of both the father and mother of a child to go to work which leads to a decrease in the quality time spent with their children. This unsupervised or unmonitored time plays a vital role in the child's growth and development as any form of abuse or neglect during this period may it be physical, emotional, or mental will cause a significant and far reaching consequence in the child. Thus, proper knowledge and awareness is required for early identification and intervention by the parents to prevent such untoward consequences.

Aim:

The aim of this study is to assess (i) the knowledge and awareness regarding child abuse and neglect among working parents in Chennai and (ii) to evaluate their understanding of the methods and steps taken in the identification and prevention of child abuse and neglect.

Materials and Methods:

Questionnaire consisting of 14 questions was distributed to 212 randomly selected working parents in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Completed questionnaires were collected and subjected to data analysis.

Results:

Majority of the working parents were aware of the various parental and environmental factors that could result in child maltreatment and just nearly half of them had taken proper steps to prevent such untoward occurrence in their families.

Conclusion:

Proper steps have to be taken by the parents and each member of the society as a whole to prevent and reduce the incidence of child abuse and neglect. This study evaluated the understanding and attitude of the working parents toward physical child abuse, their knowledge on the emotional and psychological neglect, and the steps they are willing to take or have taken to prevent it in order to build a better future for the children.

A comparative analysis of suicide attempts in left-behind children and non-left-behind children in rural China

To estimate the prevalence of suicide attempts and explore the shared and unique factors influencing suicide risk in left-behind children (LBC) and non-left-behind children (NLBC) in rural China, this study collected data using a multi-stage cluster random sampling method from 13,952 children including 6,034 LBC and 7,918 NLBC. Sociodemographic characteristics, suicide attempts, neglect and physical abuse, negative life events, and loneliness were measured by self-reported questionnaires. Data were analyzed using logistic regression models. Gender and mother's education level were unique influential factors for NLBC while family structure type was a unique influential factor for LBC. The study provides two novel findings regarding NLBC specifically: 1. Children with optimal family socioeconomic status are more likely to report suicide attempts (odds ratio OR = 1)than are those in the general children population, OR 0.52 (95% CI: 0.39-0.70), and 2. Children with higher mother's education level are subject to higher suicide rates in high school, OR 1.67 (95% CI: 1.13-2.46), and post-secondary education, OR 2.14 (95% CI: 1.37-3.37). The unique characteristics of LBC and NLBC in China suggest that investigating risk factors and determining the factors that might be targeted in intervention programs are urgently needed currently.