| dc.description.abstract | This study investigated Community Perceptions about Child Neglect in Buwooya Village, Buyanga Sub County, Bugweri District. The study was guided by three objectives which included; identifying the community perceptions about the causes of child neglect, identifying the community perceptions on the consequences of child neglect and finding out the community perceptions on the interventions to end child neglect. The study was a household survey focusing on the adults in Buwooya Village, Buyanga Sub County, Bugweri District, used a quantitative method to collect data from 122 male and female respondents. A household survey questionnaire was used to collect data. Quantitative data was analyzed in form of statistical tables in form of frequencies and percentages. The findings of the study revealed that there were several causes of child neglect the major two being domestic violence and poor relationships between parents and children. The study further revealed that the leading two consequences of child neglect were difficulties in socialization and misbehavior among neglected children. Most of the respondents agreed on the causes and consequences of child neglect written in the household survey questionnaire which showed that child neglect is ongoing in Buwooya Village, Buyanga Sub County, Bugweri District.
The causes included; the age of a child, younger parents, substance use, domestic violence, children raised in poor families, children who with disabilities, social isolation, cultural and social norms, society's attitude, misbehavior among children, lack of parental knowledge and skills, parental stress and low self-esteem, unemployment, poor relationships between parents and children, family socioeconomic status, inaccessible social support services, alcohol consumption, the outbreak of COVID-19 and parental insensitivity to the child's physical and emotional needs. The consequences included, delays in physical development, health problems, anxiety disorders, extreme aggressiveness, problems with controlling emotions, children always have a negative image of themselves, difficulties in linguistic ability, difficulties in socialization, difficulties in achieving academic success, low self-esteem, younger children are likely to suffer greater harm than older children when neglected, neglect of a child can lead to their becoming disabled and children who are neglected are likely to misbehave. The study also revealed that few of the respondents knew some of the interventions to address child neglect, suggesting an absence of responses in the study area.
The government should therefore embark on sensitizing the people about the interventions to address child neglect and should also put in place more programs to address child neglect in the community. | en_US |
