Prevalence of child abuse in school environment in Kerala, India: An ICAST-CI based survey.
Very few studies focus on childhood abuse in developing countries and only a small fraction of such studies explicitly deal with abuse in a school environment. The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse in a school environment in a developing country. Abuse history was collected using the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN) Child Abuse Screening Tool - Children's Institutional Version (ICAST-CI). Demographic variables were also collected. Student supportive measures were provided both during and after the survey. 6682 school attending adolescents in Thrissur, Kerala participated in this cross sectional self report study. One year and lifetime prevalence of physical (75.5%, 78.5%), emotional (84.5%, 85.7%) and sexual (21.0%, 23.8%) abuse was high. Abuse was considered to be present even if an individual item from these three categories was reported. Most abuse was reported as occurring 'sometimes' rather than 'many times'. More males than females reported being victims of abuse; figures for one-year prevalence were: physical abuse (83.4% vs. 61.7%), emotional abuse (89.5% vs. 75.7%), and sexual abuse (29.5% vs. 6.2%). Various factors significantly increase the likelihood of abuse-male gender, low socioeconomic status, regular use of alcohol and drugs by family member at home, and having other difficulties at school. Children tended to report abuse less frequently if they liked attending school and if they always felt safe at school. The results highlight the urgent need to address the issue of abuse in the school environment and minimize its impact.
['Kumar|Manoj Therayil|MT|', 'Kumar|Sebind|S|', 'Singh|Surendra P|SP|', 'Kar|Nilamadhab|N|']
D000293:Adolescent D002648:Child D002649:Child Abuse D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies D004644:Emotions D005260:Female D006801:Humans D007194:India D008297:Male D000066550:Physical Abuse D015995:Prevalence D012574:Schools D057566:Self Report D013334:Students D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires D014504:Urban Health
Prevalence Abuse School India Sexual Physical Emotional Children Adolescent