Community attitudes and perceptions towards emotional violence against children. A Case of Nangabo sub-county, Wakiso district

Abstract

This research study was undertaken to find out the community attitudes and perceptions towards emotional violence against children in Nangabo sub-county. This was to address the gap in literature concerning emotional violence since previous studies have predominantly focused on physical and sexual violence against children. The study sought to find out the perceived prevalence of emotional violence, community members’ perceptions about emotional violence, community reactions towards emotional violence against children and the factors that influence the levels of reporting emotional violence. A mixed methods descriptive and exploratory study design was employed. Cluster sampling was used to obtain a quantitative sample of 65 respondents while quota and expert sampling designs were used to generate the qualitative sample. The data was obtained using 65 questionnaires administered to primary respondents and 20 interviews (15 in- depth interviews and 5 key informant interviews) were carried out with the secondary respondents. STATA version 15 and thematic analysis were used to analyze the quantitative and qualitative data respectively. The analysis of the responses showed that there are negative attitudes and perceptions towards emotional violence against children to a large extent. Emotional violence against children is highly prevalent in Nangabo sub-county and it is perceived as a norm.