Abstract
INTRODUCTION: statutory rape is a critical public health and legal issue with severe consequences for survivors in Nigeria and is related to insufficient healthcare training, hindering effective case management. This study assessed the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of healthcare workers in emergency wards in Ibadan to identify gaps and challenges in statutory rape management. METHODS: a cross-sectional study was conducted among 198 healthcare workers in Ibadan, using structured questionnaires and analyzed with descriptive statistics, t-tests, and chi-square tests. RESULTS: the study revealed significant gaps in healthcare workers' KAP concerning statutory rape. While 81.3% of healthcare workers were aware of the term "statutory rape," only 75.3% understood the legal provisions related to it, such as the legal age of consent. Doctors had significantly higher KAP scores than nurses in all domains: knowledge (p= 0.0029), attitude (p= 0.0044), and practice (p= 0.0028). Despite recognizing the severity of statutory rape (76.3%), 33.3% of healthcare workers had never managed such cases, and many reported infrequent encounters with statutory rape cases. A significant proportion (65.2%) of healthcare workers identified inadequate forensic training as a major barrier, while (83.3%) cited legal and reporting constraints, and (31%) mentioned geographical access limitations. The most commonly reported physical and psychological symptoms observed in survivors included genital injuries (93.4%), psychological trauma (86%), STDs and infections (81.3%), bleeding (85.4%), and extra-genital injuries (69.2%). CONCLUSION: this study highlights deficiencies in healthcare workers´ knowledge and preparedness in statutory rape case management. Strengthening forensic training, legal awareness, and healthcare-legal collaboration is essential to improving response effectiveness.