An Exploration of the Lived Experiences of Maltreated Children and Caregivers in Southwestern Uganda

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.