Nurses' intention to report child abuse in Taiwan: A test of the theory of planned behavior

The purposes of this study were to identify factors associated with nurses' intention to report suspected child abuse in Taiwan, and to determine the empirical adequacy of the extended theory of planned behavior (TPB) to explain nurses' intention to report child abuse. A stratified quota sampling technique was used to select registered nurses in emergency rooms, psychiatric units, and pediatric units in Taiwan. A total of 1,362 questionnaires from 1,617 nurses were used for the analyses. Structural equation modeling demonstrated that nurses' attitudes toward reporting child abuse, perceived behavioral control, subjective norms, and knowledge of the child abuse and reporting law explained 85% to 91% of the variance in nurses, intention to report child abuse for the less severe and severe child abuse cases in vignettes, respectively. The findings support the use of the extended TPB in identifying factors associated with nurses' intention to report child abuse in Taiwan. (c) 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.