Percepción de los docentes sobre el maltrato infantil en la educación básica de la ciudad de Mérida, Venezuela

Abstract

Child abuse is considered any form of violence or injury inflicted upon children, which can affect or diminish their physical or psychological evolution, and which hinder them from reaching a healthy development and emotionality. It is an aggression behaviour including all the members of a society through long time ago, therefore becoming a social pathology with many severe consequences. The object of this work is to determine the degree of information and motivation in Basic Education (Primary school) teachers of some schools in the city of Merida, on the importance of child abuse and its consequences. At the same time to demonstrate the valuable teachers participation in the early detection of child abuse, among a multidisciplinary group including pediatricians, family physicians, MedULA, Revista de Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Los Andes. Vol. 11 No 1-4. 2002. (2004). Merida. Venezuela 10 psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, nurses, lawyers, and especially teachers. This is a descriptive, transversal study. A questionnaire was applied to teachers in several Basic Education centers. The sample was chosen by the intentional probabilistic method. The questionnaire asked for information on the teachers’ perception about child abuse and the probability of risk factors among their pupils. The results showed that 100% of the teachers consider the subject as very important; also that 61% of the parents abuse their children according to different behaviour indicators. At the same time, 65% of the teachers think they can handle their pupi1s conflictive situations, and 99% said they wish to receive specialized training and orientation on the subject. We concluded that the teachers have adequate concepts on child abuse, and showed a good will to look for solutions to that problem despite the fact that they have not received basic orientation.