Healthcare Professionals in the pediatric field need to be educated on the topic of children's rights.

Children’s Rights among Healthcare Professionals

Abstract

Background/aims: Child rights are defined as the protection of children rights all over the world such as education, health, living, housing, protection against sexual or psychological abuse. It is necessary to increase awareness of children rights among healthcare professionals and to put them into practice. Methods: In this study, we aimed to evaluate the awareness of healthcare professionals employed in departments of child health and diseases regarding children’s rights. The study comprised 319 people including physicians, health officers, nurses, and midwives working in the Department of Child Health and Diseases in education and research hospitals in Ankara, Turkey. Results: All participants completed a questionnaire consisting of 19 questions. It was determined that 220 (69.0%) participants were aware of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, while 99 (31.0%) were not. There were 59 (18.5%) participants who could list 3 of the basic principles of the convention, but there were 236 (74%) participants who could not specify any articles. It was found that 111 (34.8%) people in the study population considered themselves sufficient in advocating for children’s rights, but 208 (65.2%) did not. Conclusions: This study found an insufficient level of awareness of children’s rights among healthcare professionals. This suggest that there is a need to raise the level of knowledge and awareness of healthcare workers in order to know the principles, to fulfill the responsibilities determined in terms of rights and laws, and to be aware of the importance of this convention for children.