Abstract

HERRERA-SILVA, Jorge Carlos; TREVINO-MOORE, Aida; GUZMAN-RENTERIA, Maricela  and  ACOSTA-CORONA, Carlos Germán. Hospital mistreatment of children and adolescents with chronic illness. Bol. Med. Hosp. Infant. Mex. [online]. 2006, vol.63, n.2, pp.94-106. ISSN 1665-1146.

Introduction. The mistreatment of children, independent of where it takes place, is a complex problem that must be addressed in an urgent manner. Material and methods. We explored the possibility of children and adolescent with chronic illness to undergo physical, psychological, verbal or sexual mistreatment during hospitalization using a validated instrument to explore process, furthermore evaluate life quality. Non parametric statistics were used for data analysis. Results. Thirty children and 23 adolescents were interviewed; 27 related be some type of mistreatment while hospitalized; only 4% expressed bad quality of life. There was a significant difference according to gender, with females being more likely to being mistreated (P =0.01). In 1 038 reported episodes, psychological and verbal mistreatment dominated (597) in the emergency room and hospital area (409), medical assistants were identified as being the more common source. Conclusions. Mistreatment of children and adolescents was found to be commonplace in this medical unit, psychological and verbal mistreatment predominated. The implementation of educational and legal interventions is potential strategies to eliminate this practice.

Keywords : Child; hospitalized; child abuse; chronic disease; violence; special needs.

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