Attitudes of Palestinian pre-school teachers from Israel towards reporting of suspected cases of child abuse and neglect

The paper documents a study conducted among 225 Palestinian pre-school teachers from Israel. Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire that examined the teachers' attitudes towards reporting child abuse and neglect. In general, the participants' attitudes towards reporting child abuse and neglect to the child protection services (CPS) were more positive than their attitudes towards reporting to the police. Willingness to report suspected cases of child sexual abuse to the police and CPS was higher than willingness to report other types of child abuse and neglect. Inconsistent results were revealed with regard to how awareness of reporting regulations and awareness of signs and risk factors for child maltreatment affect willingness to report to CPS and to the police. A comprehensive discussion of the possible relevance of the participants' socio-cultural and sociopolitical values to their attitudes towards reporting child abuse and neglect is presented. The implications of the results for future studies are also discussed.