Appropriate responses to potential child abuse: The importance of information quality.
Child welfare
Decision Making
Health/allied health
Potential child abuse
Reporting
Training
Journal
Child abuse & neglect
ISSN: 1873-7757
Titre abrégé: Child Abuse Negl
Pays: England
ID NLM: 7801702
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
07 2021
07 2021
Historique:
received:
13
10
2020
revised:
16
02
2021
accepted:
30
03
2021
pubmed:
12
4
2021
medline:
25
11
2021
entrez:
11
4
2021
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
When people suspect a child or young person is experiencing, or at risk of, abuse or neglect, they have to decide how to respond. However, the under and over reporting of child welfare issues indicate that people may struggle to identify an appropriate response. To develop scenarios (for future training and research purposes) that closely resemble the child welfare situations health/allied health practitioners encounter, and for which there is a reasonable level of child protection professional consensus as to what the appropriate response for each situation should be. We developed 285 scenarios from 190 child protection reports made by health/allied health practitioners to two Australian government child welfare agencies, that covered a range of appropriate response pathways and abuse types. An appropriate response pathway for each scenario was identified by having 34 child protection professionals provide their opinion and rationales. Child protection professionals displayed moderate (e.g., krippendorf's alpha = 0.58, 95 % CI: 0.52 to 0.62) interrater agreement as to the appropriate response pathway for the scenarios. For 127 of the 285 scenarios (44.56 %), there was strong consensus (K = 0.73, 95 % CI: 0.66 to 0.78). Professional consensus was higher than anticipated from previous research, although still low compared to generally acceptable levels of consensus. Our results suggest several promising avenues to increase professional consensus, such as improving the quality of information that people typically report to child welfare agencies.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
When people suspect a child or young person is experiencing, or at risk of, abuse or neglect, they have to decide how to respond. However, the under and over reporting of child welfare issues indicate that people may struggle to identify an appropriate response.
OBJECTIVE
To develop scenarios (for future training and research purposes) that closely resemble the child welfare situations health/allied health practitioners encounter, and for which there is a reasonable level of child protection professional consensus as to what the appropriate response for each situation should be.
PARTICIPANTS, SETTING, AND METHODS
We developed 285 scenarios from 190 child protection reports made by health/allied health practitioners to two Australian government child welfare agencies, that covered a range of appropriate response pathways and abuse types. An appropriate response pathway for each scenario was identified by having 34 child protection professionals provide their opinion and rationales.
RESULTS
Child protection professionals displayed moderate (e.g., krippendorf's alpha = 0.58, 95 % CI: 0.52 to 0.62) interrater agreement as to the appropriate response pathway for the scenarios. For 127 of the 285 scenarios (44.56 %), there was strong consensus (K = 0.73, 95 % CI: 0.66 to 0.78).
CONCLUSION
Professional consensus was higher than anticipated from previous research, although still low compared to generally acceptable levels of consensus. Our results suggest several promising avenues to increase professional consensus, such as improving the quality of information that people typically report to child welfare agencies.
Identifiants
pubmed: 33839498
pii: S0145-2134(21)00135-6
doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.105062
pii:
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
105062Informations de copyright
Crown Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.