KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE OF INTERNS IN REPORTING AND EVALUATING SEXUAL ABUSE

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Every year the crime rate reported against women has been on the rise but the conviction rate of offenders was found to be below 30%.This could be due to the lack of evidences against the perpetrators.Young medical graduates or interns are the first point of contact in any sexual abuse cases and the onus of collecting evidence depends on their knowledge and attitude.The present study was designed based on this back drop. METHODOLOGY: after obtaining ethics committee clearance 91 interns were recruited for the study. The data was collected using a validated questionnaire comprising of 20 questions related to knowledge and 10 questions about attitude. Based on the scores obtained they were categorised into three groups of poor, average and good knowledge. Analysis between knowledge level and gender of interns was done using chi-square test and difference in knowledge score of males and females was tested using independent sample t test. RESULTS: Of the 91 male interns 75% of males and 62.7% of females had good knowledge but this was not statistically significant.Significant difference in the attitude of male and female interns was noted. CONCLUSION: Lack of knowledge in cases of sexual abuse can result in escape of the perpetrators of this heinous crime.The training of interns regarding medicolegal aspects should be made mandatory.Further the medical students also need to be exposed to these legal aspects as a part of their training program.