Willingness to Intervene in Child Abuse and Neglect: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

The serious negative impacts of child abuse and neglect require greater focus on understanding the factors that influence adults' willingness to intervene when they observe instances of possible abuse and neglect. This study tests whether certain reporter characteristics and experiences, such as individual and family maltreatment history/experiences and perceived knowledge of child abuse indicators, correlate with, and mediate in, the decision to intervene. Demographics and willingness to report data were collected from adults (n = 306) attending a child abuse prevention training programme in a metropolitan city. The findings indicate that perceived knowledge of child abuse indicators plays a mediation role in willingness to take action to respond to child abuse and neglect. Practice and future research implications of these findings are discussed. Key Practitioner Messages A maltreatment history was associated with willingness to intervene, and that effect was mediated by perceived knowledge of symptoms of abuse and neglect. Child abuse prevention education programmes should consider including a component in the curriculum in which personal and family maltreatment history can move to the forefront and influence decisions to intervene in instances of suspected abuse and neglect.

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“…Selain membangun kembali rasa normal bagi anak-anak dari segala usia, sekolah menawarkan platform untuk layanan utama lainnya termasuk kesehatan, nutrisi, perlindungan anak, serta air dan sanitasi (Aliyar et al, 2015;Mayurasakorn et al, 2020;Sari et al, 2022;Wang & Fawzi, 2020). Untuk anak-anak dari golongan masyarakat termaginalisasi, pendidikan memberikan dukungan fisik dan psikososial yang sangat dibutuhkan dan membantu mengurangi paparan terhadap kekerasan berbasis gender, pernikahan dini, kehamilan dini, dan pekerja anak (Malhotra & Elnakib, 2021;Nguyen, 2021;Rahiem, 2021a;Sar & Bledsoe, 2021;Sserwanja et al, 2021;Yukich et al, 2021).…”