How do public child healthcare professionals and primary school teachers identify and handle child abuse cases? A qualitative study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Public child healthcare doctors and nurses, and primary school teachers play a pivotal role in the detection and reporting of child abuse, because they encounter almost all children in the population during their daily work. However, they report relatively few cases of suspected child abuse to child protective agencies. The aim of this qualitative study was to investigate Dutch frontline workers' child abuse detection and reporting behaviors.

Methods

Focus group interviews were held among 16 primary school teachers and 17 public health nurses and physicians. The interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and thematically analyzed according to factors of the Integrated Change model, such as knowledge, attitude, self-efficacy, skills, social influences and barrier

SUBMITTER: Schols MW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3847190 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature