The effect of some characteristics of mothers' of children with Down syndrome on abuse awareness

Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the effect of some characteristics of mothers' of children with down syndrome on abuse awareness. Material and Method: This is a descriptive study was conducted with 109 mothers of children with Down's syndrome. In order to collect the research data, two different forms were used: Participant Information Form and Abuse Awareness Scale for Parents. The evaluation of the data, descriptive analyzes, the significance test of the difference between the two means, Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis H test, Bonferroni Corrected Mann Whitney U test and multiple regression analysis were used. Results: The mean score of Abuse Awareness Scale for Parents was found to be 57.40±7.02. It was determined that the difference between the educational status of the mothers, the number of children, family type, marital status, working status, perceived socio-economic level, perceived social support level and state of being abused as a child and the mean score of Awareness Scale for Parents were statistically significant (p≤0.05). As a result of regression analysis, it was determined that family type 13.8%, working status 21.3%, perceived social support level 25.8% and state of being abused as a child 31.8% predict the level of abuse. The regression model was used to explain 53.7% of the abuse level of mothers (p<0.001). Conclusion: In this study, it was determined that the mothers of children with down syndrome were at a moderate level of abuse. It has been determined that mothers who have low level of education, large number of children, large and fragmented family type, single (divorced), unemployed, low socioeconomic level, low perceived social support and thought they were abused in childhood, applied more abuse to their children. Appropriate recommendations were made for the study. Key Words: Mother, child abuse, down syndrome, awareness, pediatric nursing