The purpose of this study is to examine the level of reporting intention and perception factors related with reporting intention of the reporting obligators against the child abuse as described in the Child Welfare Law. It is also to explore the influ...
The purpose of this study is to examine the level of reporting intention and perception factors related with reporting intention of the reporting obligators against the child abuse as described in the Child Welfare Law. It is also to explore the influences of the preception level on the reporting intention of the child abuse. To achieve the objectives, total number of 271 child abuse reporting obligators were subjected to this study, who worked for various institutions from kindergartens, nursing rooms, schools, social welfare centers, hospitals, village offices(dong office), and district offices.
To examine the perception on the seriousness of the child abuse, the measure used in the child abuse perception survey report in 2003 by Ministry of Health and Welfare and Central Child Abuse Prevention Center, was modified as 5 point measure and used for this study. To measure the reporting effectiveness and obstacles thereof, Ahn Jaejin(2002) Measure was used. In addition, SPSS statistic program was used to analyze the materials of this study. First, frequency, percentage, average and standard deviation were examined in order to inspect the respective perception level of child abuse reporting intention, seriousness of the child abuse, effectiveness of the reporting, and obstacles against reporting. Logistic regressive analysis was made in order to examine influences of seriousness of the child abuse, effectiveness of the reporting, and obstacles against reporting, regarding the reporting intention.
Major results found in this study were as follows.
First, more than 80 percent of the reporting obligators subjected to this study answered that they had intention to report when they discovered child abuse case, indicating significantly high level of reporting intention as a whole.
Second, the reporting obligators subjected to this study had significantly high level of perception on the seriousness of the child abuse and effectiveness of the reporting, whereas they had relatively low level of perception of the obstacles against the reporting.
Third, the perception of the seriousness of the child abuse was high in general, however, such perception did not influence on the actual reporting intention of the child abuse. On the other hand, the higher the perception of the effectiveness of the child abuse reporting was, the higher the perception of the reporting intention was, and the lower the perception of the reporting obstacle, the higher the reporting intention of the child abuse.
Regarding the results of this study, the perception of the child abuse seriousness was not directly led to the reporting intention thereof. Thus, it was an implication that the media report and education heavily inclined to seriousness of the child abuse should be overcome, through the mass media and child abuse prevention education. Ultimately, the public relations and education contents that were focused on the seriousness of the child abuse should be overcome, instead, the effectiveness of the child abuse reporting should be emphasized, and eliminating fear and anxiety to report child abuse as obstacles should be emphasized.
It is anticipated for this study to be utilized as basic materials necessary to devise practical plans to elevate the low reporting rate of the child abuse reporting obligators of Korea, in order to prevent, detect earlier and treat the child abuse cases.