A study to Assess the Knowledge regarding Sexual Abuse among Adolescent Girls in selected High Schools at Mysuru

Ms. Anusha U.K¹, Mrs. Saraswathi K.N²*, Mrs. Nisha. P. Nair², Prof. Sheela Williams³

¹II year M.Sc Nursing, JSS College of Nursing, Mysore.

²Assistant Professor, JSS College of Nursing, Mysore.

³Principal, JSS College of Nursing, Mysore.

*Corresponding Author Email: saraswathimysores803@gmail.com

ABSTRACT:

Introduction: Adolescence is the period from the onset of puberty in preteen years until adulthood. Adolescents are less able than adults to manage their emotions, use good judgement, and engage in thoughtful decision-making. Sexual abuse also referred to as molestation, is the forcing of undesired sexual behaviour by one person upon another. The best way to protect children and teens from being victims of sexual abuse is to help them understand and be aware of the issues of sexual abuse.

Objectives: This study was aimed to assess the knowledge regarding sexual abuse among adolescent girls in selected High schools at Mysuru. and to find the association between the level of knowledge regarding sexual abuse among adolescent girls and their selected personal variables.

Methods: A descriptive study was conducted among 100 adolescent girls in selected high schools. Samples were selected by using simple random sampling method. Data was collected by administering personal proforma and self administered structured knowledge questionnaire which consists of 30 items.

Findings: Out of 100 samples, 62% of adolescent girls had average knowledge, 27% of adolescent girls had good knowledge and 11% of adolescent girls had poor knowledge regarding sexual abuse. It was found that there is a significant association between level of knowledge regarding sexual abuse and variable like source of information on sexual abuse among adolescent girls.

Conclusion: The study result concluded that majority 62% of adolescent girls had average knowledge, 27% had good knowledge and 11% had poor knowledge regarding sexual abuse. This emphasises the investigator to implement measures for the prevention of sexual abuse in future.

KEY WORDS: Adolescent girls, knowledge and sexual abuse.

INTRODUCTION:

Adolescence is the period from the onset of puberty in preteen years until adulthood. Adolescence derived from Latin: adolescere meaning “to grow up” is a transitional stage of physical and mental human development generally occurring between puberty and legal adulthood (age of majority).

It is a period of intense development with profound physical changes as well as transition between childhood and adulthood. These developmental factors place adolescents in danger for participating in risky behaviour.¹

Sexual abuse also referred to as molestation, is the forcing of undesired sexual behaviour by one person upon another. When that force is immediate, of short duration, or infrequent, it is called sexual assault. The offender is referred to as sexual abuser or molester. When the victim is younger than the age of consent, it is referred to as child sexual abuse. Sexual abuse or violence against adolescents include any situation in which children or adolescents are used for the sexual pleasure of an adult or older adolescent which ranges from petting, fondling of genitalia, breasts or anus, sexual exploitation, voyeurism, pornography, exhibitionism, pressuring a child to engage in sexual activities etc. with the intention to gratify their own sexual desires or to intimidate or groom the child.²

NEED FOR THE STUDY:

Sexual abuse of adolescents is a very real problem in India. It may be an infant, toddler, pre-schooler, or school-aged child up to age 18 or more may come from any socioeconomic background or ethnic or religious group. India ranks 3^rd for the number of rapes reported each year. According to WHO report by 2014 August 18, India has the highest rate of child sexual abuse in the entire world. A child under the age of 16 years is raped after every 2.5 hours in India. Precisely, one out of every 10 Indians got raped or sexually abused at least once in their life when they were young. According to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) there were 309,546 crimes against women reported to the police in 2013. This is an alarmingly high rate.³

Sexual abuse is not just a phenomenon by itself but also has very serious and long lasting impact as psychological disturbances. Thus, ranges from anxiety to sexual dysfunction or post-traumatic stress disorder that follows sexual abuse. Research so far has concentrated on sexual crimes against women in the reproductive age. There is increasing incidences of sexual abuse in children today. This area is very sensitive. We should be receptive for early identifications and prevention of such incidences of sexual abuse in community.⁴

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

1. To assess the knowledge regarding sexual abuse among adolescent girls.

2. To find the association between the level of knowledge regarding sexual abuse among adolescent girls and their selected personal variables.

HYPOTHESIS:

H₁_:There will be significant association between the level of knowledge regarding sexual abuse among adolescent girls and their selected personal variables.

METHODOLOGY:

Research approach and design: The research approach selected for the study was descriptive survey approach and research design was descriptive design.

Research variable: Knowledge of adolescent girls regarding sexual abuse.

VARIABLES OF THE STUDY:

Personal variables: Age in years, class of study, type of family, religion, parents education and working hours, distance between school and house, means of transport, leisure time activities, residence, mass media available in home, previous exposure to awareness programme on prevention and management of sexual abuse and source of information regarding sexual abuse.

Setting of the study: The study was conducted in Sri Kavuery Institution and SBM Institution in Kuvempunagar at Mysuru.

Population : In the present study population comprised of 100 adolescent girls of age 13-15 years in Sri Kavuery Institution and SBM Institution at Mysuru.

Sample and sampling: The sample of the present study comprised of 100 adolescent girls of selected high schools at Mysuru.

Sampling technique: Cluster sampling was used to select schools. Simple random sampling lottery method was used to select the samples.

DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUE AND INSTRUMENT:

Section A- Personal proforma to assess the sample characteristics.

Section B- Self- administered structured knowledge questionnaire regarding sexual abuse.

The structured knowledge questionnaire consists of 30 questions and was used to measure the respondent’s level of knowledge regarding sexual abuse. There were four options for each items from which the participants have to choose one best option; a score value of one (1) was allotted to each correct response and zero (0) was allotted to incorrect response. The total score ranged from 0 – 30. The scores were further divided arbitrarily as follows:

Poor knowledge (0 – 15)

Average knowledge (16 – 22)

Good knowledge (23 – 30).

RESULTS:

Section 1: Description of selected Personal variables of adolescent girls

TABLE 1. Frequency and percentage distribution of adolescent girls according to their selected personal variables n=100

Sample characteristics

Frequency

Percentage (%)

Age( in years)

1.1) 13

1.2) 14

1.3) 15

Class of study

2.1) 9^thstandard

2.2) 10^thstandard

Type of family

3.1) Joint

3.2) Nuclear

Religion

4.1) Hindu

4.2) Others

100

Number of children in the house

5.1) 1

5.2) 2

5.3) >2

Education of parents: father

6.1) Primary

6.2) SSLC

6.3) Higher secondary

6.4) Degree and above

Education of mother

6.5) Primary

6.6) SSLC

6.7) Higher secondary

6.8) Degree and above

Working hours of parents

7.1) 6-8 hours

7.2) 8-10 hours

7.3) >10 hours

Family income per month(in rupees)

8.1) Less than 5000

8.2) 5001-10000

8.3) Above 10001

Distance between home and school

9.1) Less than 1 km

9.2) 1 km to 2 km

9.3) More than 3 km

Means of transport to school

10.1) private

10.2) Public

10.3) Walking

Place of residence

11.1) Urban

11.2) Rural

Media available at home

12.1) TV

12.2) Internet

Leisure time activities

13.1) Watching TV

13.2) Reading books

13.3) Using internet

13.4) Listening music

Exposure to awareness program related to effect and management of sexual abuse

14.1) Yes

14.2) No

Source of information regarding sexual abuse

15.1) Mass media

15.2) Health personnel

15.3) Friends/ Family

SECTION -3

Association of the level of knowledge of adolescent girls regarding sexual abuse with their selected personal variables.

TABLE-4 Chi –square between the level of knowledge of adolescent girls with their selected personal variables n=100

Personal Variables	Poor knowledge	Average knowledge	Good knowledge	Chi square values
Age in years
1.1) 13-14	8	33	12	2.513#
1.2) 15	3	29	15
Class of study
2.1) 9^th standard	8	31	12	2.567#
2.2)10^thstandard	3	31	15
Type of family
3.1) Nuclear	1	6	3	.054#
3.2) Joint	10	56	24
Number of children in the house
5.1)1-2	1	16	4	2.426#
5.2)>2	10	46	23
Parents education :father
6.1) SSLC and below	1	3	2	.429#
6.2) above SSLC	10	59	25
Mothers education
6.3) SSLC and below	3	8	1	4.237#
6.4) above SSLC	8	54	26
Working hours of parents
7.1) 6-8 hours	8	32	15	1.687
7.2) > 8hours	3	30	12
Family income per month in rupees
8.1)<10000	6	16	7	3.917#
8.2) >10001	5	46	20
Distance between school and house
9.1) < 2km	8	44	21	.443#
9.2) > 2km	3	18	6
Means of transport
10.1)Private and by walking	10	51	26	5.706#
10.2) Public transport	1	11	1
Place of residence
11.1)Urban	9	53	26	4.700#
11.2) Rural	2	9	1
Media available at home
12.1) TV	7	26	8	3.796#
12.2) Internet	4	36	19
Leisure time activities
13.1) Watching TV& Using internet	6	23	7	2.864#
13.2) Reading books & music	5	39	20
14)Previous exposure to awareness programme on prevention & management of sexual abuse
14.1)Yes	3	30	18	5.299#
14.2) No	8	32	9
Source of information on sexual abuse
15.1)Mass media	5	39	23	6.819#*
15.2) Others	6	23	4

χ² (2) = 5.99; # Yates correction; P>0.05,P<0.05;*-Significant

The data presented in the table 4 shows that there is a significant association between level of knowledge regarding sexual abuse with variable like source of information on sexual abuse.

CONCLUSION:

The findings of the study revealed that majority (62%) of the samples had average knowledge, 27% had good knowledge and 11% had poor knowledge regarding sexual abuse. It was found that the personal variable like source of information on sexual abuse had significant association with knowledge of sexual abuse among adolescent girls.

Thus it was concluded that there is inadequate knowledge regarding sexual abuse among adolescent girls. Hence there is a need to sensitize and alert them regarding the sexual abuse and its effects, awareness programme can be conducted on prevention and management of sexual abuse among adolescent girls for updating their knowledge.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

1. Health professionals especially community psychiatric nurse and school health nurse should plan strategies to prevent occurrence of sexual abuse among adolescent girls.

2. The study can be carried out to assess the evidence for an association between sexual abuse and a life time diagnosis of psychiatric disorders.

3. Educational campaigns can be conducted in schools such as role play, drama and discussion sessions.

4. Professionals should be trained to conduct periodic population based surveys of the public for monitoring of the cases of sexual abuses.

REFERENCE:

1. Macmillan. Macmillan Dictionary for Students, 6th ed. : Pan Ltd; 1981

2. Relief India Trust. Work on alleviating child sexual abuse, [homepage on the Internet]. 2014 August 25 [cited 2014 Sep 30].

3. Allyssa HP, Media and technology in adolescent sexual education and safety. JOGNN 2008; 40(3):235-242

4. Malhotra S. Child and adolescent sexual abuse and violence in India: a review. [homepage on the Internet]. 2010 [cited 2014 Sep 27]. Available from: http://injuryprevention.bmj.com

Received on 29.05.2015 Modified on 12.06.2015

Int. J. Nur. Edu. and Research 3(3):July-Sept., 2015; Page 294-298

DOI: 10.5958/2454-2660.2015.00011.3

Group	Mean	Median	Range	Standard deviation
Adolescent girls	17.6	19	6-28	±5.65

Level of knowledge	Frequency	Percentage (%)
Poor knowledge	11	11
Average knowledge	62	62
Good knowledge	27	27