Background

Zimbabwe has a high prevalence of children who have experienced abuse according to national data.

Objective

To understand how parents/caregivers and children describe child discipline, abuse, and neglect and what factors influence each, in order to inform the adaptation of a positive parenting/caregiving intervention in Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe.

Participants

A total of eight focus groups were conducted, four with parents/caregivers (N = 40) and four with their children ages 10–14 (N = 40), separately, between June-July 2016.

Setting

Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe.

Methods

We used an inductive and deductive analytic approach to analyze focus group transcripts, using MAXQDA 12.

Results

There were similar themes across focus groups of children and parents/caregivers. Findings suggest that parents/caregivers and children may be somewhat aware of the differences between discipline and abuse, but they are not completely clear about what the definitions of discipline and abuse are, and where the boundaries between discipline and abuse lie. The use of both non-physical and physical forms of discipline were described in the community, however physical discipline was a reoccurring theme in the focus groups of both parents/caregivers and their children. There were several factors that influenced discipline and/or abuse of children in the community, including the child's gender and theseverity of the child's misbehavior/actions. Parents/caregivers shared that orphan/non-biological children were particularly vulnerable to forms of abuse and neglect committed by parents/caregivers in the community, for example, withholding food and overworking a child.

Conclusions

Understanding the differences between discipline, abuse and neglect, as well as factors that influence occurrences of abuse/neglect and/or severity of abuse/neglect, need to be considered when assessing the vulnerability of children, in order to develop and refine parenting/caregiving interventions for the Zimbabwean context.

中文翻译：

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儿童纪律处分、虐待和忽视：津巴布韦奇通维萨一项形成性研究的结果

背景

根据国家数据，津巴布韦遭受虐待的儿童比例很高。

客观的

了解父母/照料者和儿童如何描述对儿童的管教、虐待和忽视以及影响每个因素的因素，以便为津巴布韦奇通维萨的积极养育/照料干预的适应提供信息。

参与者

在 2016 年 6 月至 7 月期间，总共进行了八个焦点小组，其中四个与父母/照顾者（N = 40）和四个与 10-14 岁的孩子（N = 40）分别进行。

环境

津巴布韦奇通维萨。

方法

我们使用 MAXQDA 12 使用归纳和演绎分析方法来分析焦点小组记录。

结果

儿童和父母/照顾者的焦点小组有类似的主题。调查结果表明，父母/照顾者和孩子可能在某种程度上意识到管教和虐待之间的区别，但他们并不完全清楚管教和虐待的定义是什么，管教和虐待之间的界限在哪里。社区中描述了使用非身体和身体形式的纪律，但身体纪律是父母/照顾者及其孩子的焦点小组中反复出现的主题。有几个因素会影响社区中对儿童的管教和/或虐待，包括儿童的性别和儿童不当行为/行为的严重程度。

结论

在评估儿童的脆弱性时，需要考虑管教、虐待和忽视之间的差异，以及影响虐待/忽视发生和/或虐待/忽视严重程度的因素，以发展和完善养育/照顾针对津巴布韦背景的干预措施。