A Study of Influencing Factors on Hospital Nurses\u27 Notification of Child Abuse

In recent years, the number of reported cases of child abuse has increased. The purpose of　this study is to clarify the actual situation of child abuse encounters among hospital nurses　and the factors that influence nursesʼ reporting behavior when they encounter child abuse. Questionnaire survey was administered to nurses at 4 hospitals (municipal, public, university, and private) who agreed to cooperate with the survey in City A.Responses were received from 145 (55.3% response rate). hospital Nurses were encountering abused children who were physically abused or neglected. The detailed items that showed significant associations as influencing factors were individual attributes were a long history of nursing. Nursesʼ recognition of child abuse were items of neglect and psychological abuse. Within hospital support was those who responded according to the manual. Nurses need to understand that they may continue to encounter cases of physical abuse and neglect. In case of neglect, to notice minute changes through observation and analysis based on years of experience. And if nurses can follow the activities in the manual, it may lead to notification actions. On the other hand, Nurses are well understand child abuse, but behavior that tends to be socially acceptable is difficult to view as abuse. In the future, it will be important to raise recognition of child abuse and to create a manual that makes use of experience to prevent erroneous judgments and actions, and to inform people to act according to the manual.This study found that hospital nurses in City A had encountered children who had been physically abused or neglected. Three factors were identified as influencing nursesʼ child abuse reporting behavior in neglect cases, personal attributes, hospital support, and nursesʼrecognition of child abuse