Addressing the Clinical Burden of Child Physical Abuse and Neglect in a Large Metropolitan Region: Improving the Evidence-Base

Shanti Raman, Michelle Maiese, Katrina Hurley and David Greenfield
Additional contact information
Shanti Raman: Western Clinical School, University of New South Wales, Liverpool Hospital, Liverpool, NSW 2170, Australia
Michelle Maiese: Child Protection, Sydney Local Health District, Croydon Health Centre, 24 Liverpool Road, Croydon, NSW 2132, Australia
Katrina Hurley: Child, Youth, Women and Families Health, South Eastern Sydney Local Health District, GPO Box 1614, Sydney, NSW 2001, Australia
David Greenfield: Australian Institute of Health Innovation, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia

Social Sciences, 2014, vol. 3, issue 4, 1-14

Abstract: Children at risk of abuse are more likely to be hospitalized and utilize health services according to international research. In a large metropolitan health region in New South Wales, Australia, there was little known of the clinical burden of child physical abuse and/or neglect (PAN), or of systems for clinical assessment of children presenting with abuse/neglect. We aimed to identify the number of children presenting with suspected PAN to emergency departments (EDs) and paediatric services in this region, to determine enablers and barriers to assessment for children with PAN presenting to frontline services, and to identify best practices to address gaps. We collated available data on children presenting to EDs and paediatric services with suspected PAN in 2007. We interviewed 36 health professionals from nine hospitals and 12 statutory child protection professionals, across the region before undertaking relevant document analysis. Of 64,700 paediatric ED presentations, a quarter were due to injury; 2%–5% of these were due to maltreatment. Clinician estimates and assessments of PAN varied widely; health and welfare workers identified major practice gaps, as well as good local practice. We identified feasible minimum standards for improving clinical assessment and follow-up for children presenting with PAN, given the right organizational support.

Keywords: child abuse and neglect; child maltreatment; quality improvement; audit; health services; emergency health services; child welfare; systems improvement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/3/4/771/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/3/4/771/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:3:y:2014:i:4:p:771-784:d:41400

Access Statistics for this article

Social Sciences is currently edited by Ms. Yvonne Chu

More articles in Social Sciences from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().