Awareness of child neglect and abuse in parents of children admitted to children's hospital due to poisoning

Awareness of Child Neglect and Abuse in Parents of Children Admitted to Children's Hospital Due to Poisoning Objective: Intoxication is one of the leading causes of childhood morbidity and mortality worldwide. In our study, it was aimed to reveal the awareness of neglect and abuse of parents and to define risk factors in poisonings observed in childhood, especially with corrosive substances. Materials-Methods: This descriptive study was conducted with the parents of children who were admitted to Adıyaman University Faculty of Medicine Pediatric Emergency Service with the complaint of accidental poisoning and were hospitalized between 01.02.2020 and 01.08.2021. A total of 204 parents, 102 participants in the study patient group and 102 participants in the volunteer group, were included in the study. Questionnaire method was used as a data collection tool in the research, and data were obtained by sociodemographic characteristics in the first part, and "Parents' Child Neglect and Abuse Awareness Scale-(ECIFÖ)" in the second part. The ECIFÖ scale consists of 45 questions and 5 sub-dimensions. Sub-dimensions of the scale; general information consists of physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect. The analyzes of the data were made in SPSS 26.0 program. Results: Among all applications, the rate of applications due to poisoning is 0.28%. It was observed that 50% of the applications were caused by drug poisoning and 35.3% by corrosive substance poisoning. When the subscales of the ECIFÖ scale were compared in the patient and volunteer groups, they were found to be similar to each other (p>0.05). It was determined that there was a positive and statistically significant correlation between maternal age and emotional abuse, neglect and general awareness sub-dimensions in the patient group (p=0.037 and r= 0.207, p=0.019 and r=0.231, p=0.007 and r=0.266, respectively). In the patient group, a positive and statistically significant correlation was detected between the educational status of the mother and the emotional abuse and general awareness sub-dimensions of the ECIFÖ scale (p<0.001 and r=0.366, p=0.008 and r=0.260, respectively). There was a positive and statistically significant correlation between the patients' father's educational status and the emotional abuse, neglect and general awareness sub-dimensions of the ECIFÖ scale (p =0.001 and r =0.332, p = 0.017 and r =0.237, p =0.005 and r=0,278, respectively). A negative and statistically significant correlation was detected between the family's income level and the emotional abuse and general awareness sub-dimensions of the ECIFÖ scale (p=0.009 and r=-0.257, p=0.011 and r=-0.250, respectively). Conclusion: As a result of our study, it has been determined that the awareness of families about neglect and abuse in cases of poisoning in children is low, and we believe that providing training and increasing awareness on this subject will reduce child poisonings. It is clear that more multicenter studies are needed on this subject. Keywords; abuse, awareness, child, neglect, parent, poisoning