Awareness status and perspective of primary HEALTH care workers in bolu province on children's rights

Background: Today, anyone under the age of 18 is considered a child. The Rights of the child is a broad concept that has universal validity. The aim of this study is to determine the level of awareness and perspective of primary health care workers in Bolu province on the rights of the child. Materials and Methods: The population of this cross-sectional study consists of 442 healthcare professionals working in primary health care institutions in Bolu province. The questionnaire used in the research consists of five parts, the first part is sociodemographic characteristics, the second part is questions about the past experiences, the third part is questions measuring awareness and knowledge about the rights of the child, the fourth part is propositions about the behavior of the participants regarding children's rights and the fifth part consists of the Attitude Scale towards the Rights of the Child developed by Yasemin Karaman Kepenekci. The data were collected by survey method under observation. In the statistical analysis, descriptive statistics, chi-square test, Fisher's exact chi-square test, Mann Whitney U test, Kruskal Wallis test and Spearman Correlation Analysis were used and the level of significance was accepted as p<0.05. Necessary permission and ethical approval were obtained for the research. Results: 69.4% of the participants are women and 71.9% are married; 62.6% of them have children and 32.6% of them have worked in a department related to children throughout their professional life. Compared to men, women who work in family health centers have heard of the Convention on the Rights of the Child more than those who work in other units, and those who have previously worked in a department about children have heard of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Physicians are more aware of the fact that Turkey has signed the contract than non-physician healthcare professionals. Those who have children know more about the Convention of the Rights of the Child than those who do not and they have more information about contract. Women than men, non-physician healthcare workers compared to physicians think that it would be beneficial to receive education on chilren's rights more. Those who grew up in an extended family had higher attitudes towards children's rights than those who grew up in a nuclear family. Conclusion: It can be said that primary health care workers do not have sufficient knowledge about children's rights and child rights legislation. Primary health care workers need to be trained on children's rights. It would be appropriate to give this education throughout the education life starting from kindergarten, and then to reinforce the knowledge with in-service training.