Читать книгу Pediatric Epidemiology - Группа авторов - Страница 32

As mentioned above, child physical abuse is a widespread global phenomenon, affecting the lives of millions of children all over the world. Recent meta-analyses on cultural-geographical differences in child abuse [23] show extraordinarily great differences in reported prevalence of physical abuse per country, which seems to reflect how studies were performed rather than reality. The highest combined prevalence rates were found in studies using broad definitions of child abuse, as for instance is the case in the Scandinavian countries, where a box on the ear is registered as abuse, while this and even spanking on the buttocks are looked upon as normal parental behaviour in most countries in the world. High prevalence rates are also reported from studies concerning the whole childhood period and studies in which young adults have been the respondents. When performing studies in different countries it is therefore important to:

•Prepare the prevalence study based on qualitative studies that demonstrate how children, adults, professionals and governmental bodies view what is child abuse and what is not. Results from such a study can give specific additional questions that can be added to an already well-known and validated questionnaire

•Clearly state for which period in life the study concerns

•Clearly delineate the groups of people that will be invited to answer the questionnaire

•Be aware of that prevalence figures usually are higher in studies using more detailed questions.