Attitudes and child abuse reporting behaviours among Hong Kong GPs

Knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding child maltreatment among health care providers working in primary care centers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Objective:

The aim of the study was to assess the level of knowledge, attitudes, and current practice of primary healthcare physicians and nurses employed at the National Guard affiliated Primary Care Centers related to child abuse and neglect.

Method:

A cross-sectional study was conducted at four National Guard affiliated Primary Care Centers, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, from May to September 2019. A total of 308 physicians and nurses participated in the study, using a convenience sampling technique. After obtaining informed consent, data was collected with a self-administered questionnaire.

Results:

The overall attitude score was excellent in 64.2% of the sample. The majority (90.3%) had an excellent knowledge score. The study indicated that the married group and participants with more than 10 years of experience were more aware of child maltreatment reporting procedures compared to the non-married group and less experienced participants. Almost two-thirds of the sample (67.2%) agreed that child abuse and neglect are underreported in Saudi Arabia. Lack of knowledge was the most frequent reason for underreporting.

Conclusion:

Our study highlighted that most of the primary care physicians and nurses at King Abdulaziz Medical City had excellent knowledge and positive attitudes related to child maltreatment. However, a major knowledge deficit exists in terms of the reporting procedures of suspected child maltreatment cases.

Management of Domestic Violence by Primary Care Physicians in Hong Kong: Association With Barriers, Attitudes, Training, and Practice Background

While primary care physicians (PCPs) have opportunities to recognize patients who encounter domestic violence (DV) by intimate partners, warning symptoms such as unexplained physical injury, bruising, anxiety, and depression are often missed during clinic visits. This study investigated the barriers of Hong Kong PCPs toward managing DV, including recognition, management, and referrals of these patients. Four focus group interviews were conducted to explore the in-depth opinions of PCPs on managing DV in Hong Kong. The themes identified were investigated in a questionnaire survey with data from 504 PCPs working in public and private sectors. Factor analysis of the survey data suggested four major barrier factors: (a) worries about the potential harms of intervening in patients' domestic affairs and DV issues, (b) lack of guidelines and support services, (c) limited skills and time in managing DV, and (d) patients' reluctance in disclosing DV issues. PCPs with more years of practice had more worries about intervening in domestic issues (Factor 1), while the younger PCPs tended to perceive limited skills and time in managing DV cases as barriers (Factor 3). PCPs working in the public setting were more likely to ask patients about DV (M = 5.4 vs. 2.9), suspected DV (M = 3.8 vs. 2.3), and managed DV (M = 1.7 vs. 1.0) in the past 5 years compared with the private PCPs. Some PCPs in the focus groups expressed the view that DV cases should be handled by social workers instead of doctors. Survey respondents who held such views about doctors' limited role in DV management also scored higher in all of the barrier factors. The findings suggest that there are boundaries between domestic and medical realms, especially in a Chinese context. Resolving PCPs' worries by training, provision of DV management guidelines, and referral pathway to social workers may be good starting points to bridge the gaps.

Cognitive and behavioral risk factors for child physical abuse among Chinese children: a multiple-informant study

BACKGROUND

It has been well established that child physical abuse is a risk factor for cognitive deficits and behavioral problems. However, the possible link between cognitive deficits and behavioral problems placing children at a higher risk of physical abuse has been overlooked. Using a prospective design, the present study aims to examine whether previously measured cognition indicated by intelligence quotient (IQ), including performance IQ (PIQ) and verbal IQ (VIQ), and behavioral problems reported by multiple informants (i.e. mothers, teachers, and children) predict later child physical abuse (which may include minor and severe forms of abuse inflicted separately by mothers and fathers) in Chinese children.

METHODS

A school-based survey was conducted to collect data from 265 Chinese children (52.8 % boys, mean age 13.71 ± 0.60 years) in the Wave II of China Jintan Cohort study. When they were in the last year of elementary school, children completed the Chinese version of the Wechsler intelligence scale for children-revised that measured VIQ and PIQ during 2010-2012 when their behaviors were self-assessed. Mothers and teachers of these children used the Chinese versions of the youth self report, the child behavior checklist and the teacher report form, respectively, to assess the children's behaviors. These children reported minor and severe physical abuse experiences in the previous 12 months from mothers and fathers separately using the Chinese version of parent-child conflict tactics scale in 2013 when children were in grades 7 and 8 of middle school.

RESULTS

The present study found that after controlling for the sociodemographic and other cognitive and/or behavior variables, high scores of child externalizing behavior rated by their mothers or teachers were associated with increased risks of experiencing maternal and paternal severe physical abuse, while a high score of self-reported externalizing behavior was associated with a decreased risk of paternal severe physical abuse. A high score of mother-rated internalizing behavior was associated with a decreased risk of maternal severe physical abuse. VIQ was associated with maternal minor physical abuse with small effect size. PIQ was not associated with any forms of physical abuse after adjusting for child behavior and sociodemographic variables.

CONCLUSIONS

In this community sample of Chinese children, externalizing behavior perceived by mothers and teachers is linked to children being at risk for physical abuse, while internalizing behavior perceived by mothers is associated with a decreased risk of maternal physical abuse. Findings suggest that educating parents and teachers to appropriately perceive children's externalizing behavior may help prevent the occurrence of physical abuse.

Resilience in the context of child maltreatment: connections to the practice of mandatory reporting

A human rights perspective places the care for children in the obligation sphere. The duty to protect from violence is an outcome of having a declaration confirming inalienable human rights. Nationally, rights may be reflected in constitutions, charters, and criminal codes. Transnationally, the United Nation's (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) prioritizes a child's basic human rights, given their dependent status. UN CRC signatory countries commit to implementing minimal standards of care for minors. Laws requiring professionals to report child maltreatment to authorities is one practical strategy to implement minimal child protection and service standards. Mandatory reporting laws officially affirm the wrong of maltreatment and the right of children. Mandatory reporting can be conceptualized as part of a resilience process, where the law sets the stage for child safety and well-being planning. Although widely enacted law, sizeable research gaps exist in terms of statistics on mandatory reporting compliance in key settings; obstacles and processes in mandatory reporting; the provision of evidence-based training to support the duty to report; and the training-reporting-child outcomes relationship, this latter area being virtually non-existent. The fact that mandatory reporting is not presently evidence-based cannot be separated from this lack of research activity in mandatory reporting. Reporting is an intervention that requires substantial inter-professional investment in research to guide best practices, with methodological expectations of any clinical intervention. Child abuse reporting is consistent with a clinician's other duties to report (i.e., suicidality, homicidality), practice-based skills (e.g., delivering "bad" news, giving assessment feedback), and the pervasive professional principle of best interests of the child. Resilience requires the presence of resources and, mandated reporting, is one such resource to the maltreated child. Practice strategies identified in the literature are discussed.