Background: Child abuse is a worldwide problem that affects seriously the health and welfare of children. Parents have a key role to avoid or prevent the exposure of their children to abuse. The study was conducted to assess the awareness about child rights and the most important ways to detect child abuse among the parents and to investigate the risk and protective factors associated with prevalence rates and impact and the parents' role in cases of abuse in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Methodology: A questionnaire was distributed among the general public in Riyadh City. The questionnaire consisted of questions about socio-demographic data of the respondents, as well as other questions that explored the awareness and knowledge about child abuse. The respondents were assorted into two groups according to the total knowledge score.
Results: The respondents showed good knowledge of physical neglect, educational neglect, and physical abuse. According to the respondents, the most common types of abuse in the community where emotional and physical abuse; the most common risk factors were psychiatric illnesses and low educational level; the most common perpetrators were strangers, drivers, house servants, classmates, teachers, fathers, and mothers in that order. A high percentage of respondents did not know places that can help in dealing with abuse cases.
Conclusion: The respondents displayed a fair level of knowledge about the types of abuse, the most common risk factors, and the effective methods to protect the children against abuse. However, defects in their knowledge were detected as regards what constitutes physical child abuse and where to seek aid if abuse is suspected.
Key words: Child abuse, battered child syndrome, child neglect
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