TITLE:
An Exploration of the Lived Experiences of Maltreated Children and Caregivers in Southwestern Uganda
AUTHORS:
Anthony Mpairwe, Ronald Bahati, Andrew Ainomugisha, Herbert Elvis Ainamani
KEYWORDS:
Child Maltreatment, Lived Experiences, Southwestern Uganda
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.11 No.11,
November
10,
2023
ABSTRACT: Background: Child maltreatment poses a great danger to the lives of children. This is
because its impacts do not only stop in their childhood but also later into
adulthood. Child maltreatment has been generally known to refer to physical,
emotional, child neglect, and sexual abuse. In many
contexts, children are taken to be minors and considered not to be aware of the
various maltreatments they may be exposed to by their caregivers and strangers.
This study therefore sought to explore the lived experiences of maltreated
children in Sheema District and Mbarara City in South
Western Uganda. Methods: We conducted 8 key informant interviews with
government civil servants and 6 with officials of civil society organizations
carrying out child protection work. Again, 6 Focus group discussions were
conducted with children. The study participants were purposively selected
because of the knowledge they had about the study topic. They were interviewed
through audio recordings and their views were transcribed verbatim where
thematic analysis was used. Results: The results hinged on four themes
namely child neglect (expressed in terms of absentee parents/fathers), emotional abuse
(reflected in terms of abusive language and words that shame or harm
children) and physical abuse (expressed through corporal punishments and sexual
abuse). Conclusions: Maltreated children go through a lot of emotional
torture, physical harm, sexual abuse and neglect. We recommend interventions
geared towards mitigating child maltreatment and its effects be propagated for
wholistic and complete healthy child development.