Examining Nursing Students’ Levels of Diagnosing Symptoms and Risks of Child Abuse and Neglect

Introduction: Nurses have important ethical and legal responsibilities regarding the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of child abuse and neglect (CAN). This study was conducted to examine nursing students’ levels of diagnosing the symptoms and risks of CAN.
Methods: This descriptive study was conducted with 324 nursing students studying at the nursing faculty of a university between April and May 2019. A “Student Information Form” and the “Scale of Diagnosing Symptoms and Risks of CAN” were used for data collection.
Results: Participating in the study the mean age was 20.3±1.5. There was a statistically significant difference between being a 4th grader, receiving training on CAN, encountering a case or suspicion of CAN, and being aged 20 and over, and the mean score on the scale of diagnosing symptoms and risks of CAN (p<0.05).
Discussion and Conclusion: In this study, it was determined that the level of knowledge of nursing students about defining the symptoms and risks of CAN was not sufficient. It is seen that receiving education on CAN positively affects the ability to identify the symptoms and risks of CAN.

Keywords: Child abuse; Child neglect; Nursing students