Knowledge and Perceptions on Child Sexual Abuse: A Comparative Study Between Children and Parents in Morogoro Municipality, Tanzania

Owing to the increasing violence against children's rights, particularly in the cases of child sexual abuse (CSA), this study aimed at assessing the knowledge and perception of children and parents in Morogoro municipality. The Urie Bronfenbrenner Ecological system theory was used to guide the study. Semi-structured questionnaires were administered to one hundred eighty-eight (188) research subjects, through face-to-face interviews. The findings from this study indicate that 114 (74.5%) of the 153 children interviewed had heard about CSA compared to 32 (91.4%) of the 35 parents who had heard about CSA. The knowledge about CSA, was significantly higher among parents compared to children (p=0.0302). The interviewed children reported having known CSA through hearing at school (36.6%), hearing from neighbours (24.8) and experiencing cases of CSA at home (13.1%). Further, parents noted that radio and Television were dependable source of information on CSA. On the other hand, children reported to rely mainly on information received at schools and sometimes from neighbours. It was further observed that mothers played more significant role of passing knowledge to their children about CSA than fathers, the observation which was also statistically significant (p=0.0101). Most parents considered forced sexual intercourse (97.1%) with perpetrators and anal penetration (82.9%) to be the most evidence of CSA in children. The study has found that parents believe more in teachers and community members to play a key role in ending CSA than themselves. It is therefore recommended to conduct more in-depth analysis to identify key factors contributing to the prevalence of CSA in Morogoro municipality which would help to devise appropriate and effective intervention strategies to end CSA