An investigation on child abuse (physical and sexual abuse) among selected secondary school students in Nairobi province

Abstract

This research was intended to investigate on child abuse (physical and sexual) among selected public secondary school students in Nairobi Province. Its objective included the following: to find out the types of physical and sexual abuses they experienced, who among the two genders experienced most abuse, the psychological effects of the abuse, what were the perceived causes of the abuse, what action the abused students had taken and how the abuse had affected their lives as students. The data from the students was collected using stratified sampling and then simple random sampling while from the teachers, interview schedules was used after selecting them using purposive sampling. Then, to analyze, descriptive research design was be used. The findings of the research revealed that:

1. Physical and sexual abuse was prevalent among the secondary school students. 2. The major perpetrators of the abuses were people well known to the victims. 3. A large percentage of the abuses took place at home 4. Most of the abuses remained unreported. 5. Most of the victims did not seek medical treatment.

The recommendations of the research include the following:

1. Care should be taken in the discipline of children. 2. Home safety should be ensured to avoid children getting physically hurt. 4. Parents should cultivate a more open relationship with their children. 5. There is need to sensitize, educate and empower children on various ways of handling and reporting cases of abuse.

It is hoped that this research will be of help to the Guidance and Counseling teachers in schools, parents who need to understand what is going on with some of their teenagers, the Ministry of Education and to add to what the gender based organizations have researched on previously.