A comparison study on child abuse by parents between healthy children and those with chronic diseases

Child abuse is a big social and health problem. This study aimed to compare child abuse by parents among healthy children and those with chronic diseases. This was a descriptive comparative study between two groups carried out in 2007 in Isfahan. The samples included 212 children of 11 to 18 years old, 106 of them were referring to the health centers of the Isfahan University of Medical Sciences suffering from a chronic disease (asthma, epilepsy, cancer, thalassemia, hemophilia, etc). The healthy group included 106 children matched with the case group in age and sex as well as socio-economic class. Sampling was done by convenient method and data were gathered using a researcher-made questionnaire including demographic characteristics along with questions related to various types of abuse (neglect or physical, emotional and sexual abuse). Validity and reliability of the questionnaire were determined by content validity and Cronbach''s alpha (0.78) and data were analyzed using SPSS software by descriptive statistics, chi square and independent t-test. There was no difference between the two groups regarding sex, age, career, parents'' education and birth rank. Independent-sample t-test showed no significant difference between total mean scores of abuse and mean scores of physical, emotional and sexual abuse in both groups. But there was a significant difference between the mean score of neglect in both groups (p = 0.01). We found that the way our society pay attention to sick children is different from other societies'' and it can be related to our culture.