NCJ Number
231817
Journal
Child Abuse Review Volume: 19 Issue: 4 Dated: July/August 2010 Pages: 259-272
Date Published
July 2010
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This study assessed the knowledge of 55 health care professionals working in children's services in one NHS trust in relation to child protection legislation and child discipline practices.
Abstract
The reasonable chastisement of children remains legal despite intensive lobbying by various groups to rule out smacking and despite the physical abuse of children being problematic. All professionals working with children have a duty to safeguard and promote children's welfare. This includes knowledge about child protection legislation and child discipline practices. The current study aimed to establish if workers from more specialist child services (e.g. tiers three and four) demonstrated greater knowledge in these two areas than workers from less specialist services (e.g. tiers one and two) and if experience was positively correlated with knowledge. The results suggest that workers in more specialist children's services demonstrated greater knowledge about child protection legislation. There was no difference found between the two groups of health workers in relation to knowledge about child discipline practices. The number of years' experience was not significantly related to knowledge in either area considered. The results are discussed. Inconsistencies and gaps shown in knowledge across both groups of participants are outlined and the clinical implications are highlighted. Tables and references (Published Abstract)