Monthly Archives: May 2012

Are our frontline clinicians equipped with the ability and confidence to address child abuse and neglect?

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Are our frontline clinicians equipped with the ability and confidence to address child abuse and neglect?
Summary: Reports on a survey of medical practitioners in Sydney, New South Wales, which looked at the role of confidence in reporting child abuse and found significant differences in confidence and practice in clinical workers in primary care and hospital emergency departments. Suggests that this may be explained by differences in training and that targeted and relevant training should be provided to all frontline clinical workers, especially general practitioners (GPs). Includes questionnaire.
Publication details: Child Abuse Review Volume 21 Issue 2, 2012 pp 114-130
Authors: Raman, Shanti, and Holdgate, Anna, and Torrens, Rebecca

Youth victimization: school climate or deviant lifestyles?

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Youth victimization: school climate or deviant lifestyles?
Summary: Uses school climate theory (which examines physical, social and organisational elements of the school) to analyse the links between victims and offenders in the 11th grade in high schools in Delaware. The research found the social cohesion of schools reduced serious violent victimisation, but that school climate did not affect the relationship between offending and victimisation.
Publication details: Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume 27 Issue 3, 2012 pp 431-452
Authors: Zaykowski, Heather, and Gunter, Whitney

Bullying victimisation and risk of self harm in early adolescence: longitudinal cohort study.

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Bullying victimisation and risk of self harm in early adolescence: longitudinal cohort study. Summary: Examines the relationship between being bullied and self harm. Uses a representative sample of 1116 twin pairs from the UK born in 1994-95 to assess relative risks of self harming behaviour in the six months before their 12th birthday. Finds that children who had been bullied were more likely to self-harm. Also identifies other factors which made bullied children more likely to self harm, including: family history of attempted/completed suicide, mental health problems, and a history of physical abuse by an adult.

Publication details: British Medical Journal, Issue 344, 2012 pp [1-9]

Authors: Fisher, Helen L., et al.

A call for field-relevant research about child forensic interviewing for child protection.

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A call for field-relevant research about child forensic interviewing for child protection.
Summary: Reviews sensitivity versus specificity imbalances in forensic investigations of child sexual abuse. Proposes the development of further testing of additional approaches for children who do not respond to the current protocol (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development – NICHD). Argues that adaptations of this protocol or additional approaches should be developed and tested for nondisclosing, partially disclosing, or recanting children, very young children, children with developmental disabilities, and children whose sexual abuse allegations are evaluated in the context of custody or visitation disputes.
Publication details: Journal of Child Sexual Abuse Volume 21 Issue 1, 2012 pp 109-129
Authors: Olafson, Erna

Mental health professionals in children’s advocacy centers: is there role conflict?

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Mental health professionals in children’s advocacy centers: is there role conflict?
Summary: Argues against claims that children’s advcoacy centres have created role conflict for mental health professionals because of their work with criminal justice and child protection professionals in children’s advocacy centres as part of a coordinated response to child abuse. States that children’s advocacy centre practice is misunderstood and the risk of role conflict is overestimated, although it is impossible to rule out the possibility. Concludes that, given the benefits of the involvement of mental health professionals in children’s advocacy centres, undue concern about role conflict would not be in children’s best interests.
Publication details: Journal of Child Sexual Abuse Volume 21 Issue 1, 2012 pp 91-108
Authors: Cross, Theodore P., et al.

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Returning home from care: what’s best for children.
Summary: Examines issues around children returning home from care. Research shows that around half of children who come into care because of abuse or neglect suffer further abuse if they return home, with up to half of those returning to care. This report looks at how to address the problems and outlines innovative new approaches to support family reunification and to protect children. Highlights NSPCC recommendations to central and local government to improve outcomes for children returning home from care and includes information on NSPCC approaches to practice in four key areas of reunification: assessment, decision making, planning and monitoring.
Publication details: [London]: NSPCC, [2012] pp 23
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Corporate authors: NSPCC

Challenges in the evaluation for possible abuse: presentations of congenital bleeding disorders in childhood.

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Challenges in the evaluation for possible abuse: presentations of congenital bleeding disorders in childhood.
Summary: US study looking at the difficulties of differentiating between children with congenital blood disorders and those who have been injured as a result of abuse. Based on a ten year retrospective review of patients at the Hemophilia Treatment Center. Found that 29 of the 189 children in the study had symptoms/injuries that looked like a non accidental injury. Concludes that children with bleeding disorders may present with bruising/bleeding that is clinically highly suggestive of non accidental trauma. Recommends that infants and young children who have non-patterned bruising or bleeding as the only symptom concerning for abuse require an evaluation that includes testing for haemophilia and von Willebrand disease (vWD).
Publication details: Child Abuse and Neglect Volume 36 Issue 2, 2012 pp 127-134
Authors: Jackson, Jami, and Carpenter, Shannon, and Anderst, Jim
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The costs and consequences of child maltreatment: literature review for the NSPCC.

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The costs and consequences of child maltreatment: literature review for the NSPCC.
Summary: This report, produced by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research for the NSPCC, provides an overview of recent literature on the prevalence of child maltreatment, its impact on children throughout their lives, and the costs it incurs on the children, their families and wider society. Also considers the potential savings that might arise from preventive interventions.
Publication details: London: NSPCC, 2011 pp 148p.
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Authors: Meadows, Pamela et al.
Corporate authors: National Institute of Economic and Social Research

The Prince’s Trust and the Times Education Supplement have released research into the impact of the recession on pupils and teachers

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The Prince’s Trust and the Times Education Supplement have released research into the impact of the recession on pupils and teachers. Findings include: 48% of teachers say that they see students at least once a term who are malnourished or show signs that they have not eaten enough; and 69% say that they see students at least once a term who come into school with holes in their shoes.
Source: Times Educational Supplement 27 April 2012
Further information:
Prince’s Trust

The British Medical Journal has published a report on the relationship between bullying and self-harm

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The British Medical Journal has published a report on the relationship between bullying and self-harm. Findings from the study of a representative sample of children in the UK include: 56% of the children aged 12 who had self-harmed were victims of frequent bullying; and compared with bullied children who did not self-harm, bullied children who self-harmed were distinguished by a family history of attempted/completed suicide, concurrent mental health problems and a history of physical maltreatment by an adult.
Source: British Medical Journal 26 April 2012
Further information:
The Press Association