OBJECTIVETo investigate the cognition and health education needs on child neglect among parents/carers to the preschool children in Guangdong Province.

METHODSA total of 621 parents/carers of preschool children aged 3-6 years from four cities (Dongguan, Huizhou, Zhongshan, and Foshan) in Guangdong Province completed self-designed questionnaires concerning the cognition and health education needs on child neglects.

RESULTSOnly 5.4% of the parents/carers had a good knowledge of child neglect, and 55.9% had never heard about this term. About 90.5%-90.7%of the surveyed parents/carers were willing to learn more about child neglect and 94.6%-97.4% of them agreed that education on child neglect was necessary. It was found that normal brochures, books, newspapers, and magazines were the preferred way of education for parents/carers (77.0%); also nearly half of the parents/carers welcomed courses (55.6%) or lectures (49.1%). Most of them believed that awareness raising activities should be carried out in kindergarten (70.5%), public places (61.4%) or by providing collective training for teachers in kindergarten (59.6%).

CONCLUSIONSMost parents/carers of preschool children in Guangdong Province have a poor knowledge of child neglect. Efforts should be made to strengthen awareness raising activities on this topic via appropriate pathways.