幼兒保育相關人員對兒童虐待事件與「責任報告制」的態度、信念與認識之研究

The attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge of early childhood care professionals toward child abuse and mandated reporting

在托兒比例日漸增高的情形下，幼兒保育相關人員是最有機會與幼兒接觸並發現幼兒是否受虐的人員之一。見少法規定，教育人員與保育人員於發現兒童虐待或疑似虐待案件時，有通報之責任。幼兒保育人員對於見童虐待事件及責任報告制的態度、信念與認識將會直接影響預防兒童虐待措施及工作之成效。本研究的主要目的在於探討目前已在職場上工作之幼兒保育人員對於兒童虐待與責任報告制的看法與認知狀況。透過系統隨機抽樣，南部地區381位服務於托兒所或托嬰中心之幼兒保育人員完成並寄回「見童虐待與責任報告制到查問卷」回收率31.51%。研究結果顯示幼兒保育人員相當了解兒童虐待議題與責任報告制的重要性以及兒童虐待現象對現今社會的影響。雖然了解責任報告是必要的，但幼兒保育人員卻質疑其角色，證據不足而害怕自己研判錯誤以及判定是否虐待能力不足成為阻礙通報行動的主因。研究結果亦顯示，對兒童虐待與責任報告制的認知程度與通報的可能性有顯著相關。然而，目前相關的教育以及訓練課程的不足狀況，卻也影響著幼兒保育人員在兒童保護工作上的認知程度及表現。

Early childhood day-care service has been a crucial social phenomenon in Taiwan. By virtue of their work, child carers have more contacts with children rather than their parents during the weekdays. This unique situation posits them to detect suspected child abuse and report it. However, despite child carers are included by legislation as mandated reporters, how they view and understand about child abuse issues and mandated reporting system will have important effect that contributes to their actual reactions to child abuse cases. This study investigated the attitudes, beliefs and knowledge of child carers toward child abuse and mandated reporting. Data was collected with a self-report questionnaire. · A total of 3 81 child carers from systematically selected day-care centers or infant care centers in Southern Taiwan completed and returned the questionnaires with a response rate of 31.51%. The result showed that respondents understood how important child abuse and mandated reporting were and its effect in our society. Although child carers agreed to be mandated to report suspected abuse, only few had positive attitudes toward their roles on detecting and identifying child abuse or making reports. Fear of misjudgment and insufficient competence to identify abuses were the deterrents to report suspected abuses. In addition, significant relationship was found between knowledge of child abuse and mandated reporting and the intention to report. However, training and education programs were inadequate which would affect child carers to obtain professional knowledge and to perform child protection work efficiently.