NCJ Number
165809
Date Published
1997
Length
311 pages
Annotation
This book stresses the recognition and initial management of child abuse and is intended for health care providers and related professionals who work with abused children, including physicians, nurses and nurse practitioners, clinical social workers, mental health professionals, and child protection workers.
Abstract
The first two chapters provide an overview of the phenomenon of child abuse and neglect and offer a general approach to the evaluation of abused children. The need for a systematic and comprehensive approach to evaluating suspected child abuse cases is highlighted. In addition, the authors support an interdisciplinary approach to enhance awareness of both physical and psychosocial aspects of child abuse and to facilitate the development of comprehensive treatment plans that build on each discipline's different skills and perspectives. The next six chapters address specific forms of child maltreatment: skin bruises and burns, fractures and skeletal injuries, abdominal and thoracic trauma, head trauma, neglect and failure to thrive, and other injury patterns. Each of these more focused chapters addresses mechanisms of injury, characteristic findings, clinical approaches, differential diagnoses, and proposed treatments where applicable. The final two chapters cover the psychosocial assessment of child abuse cases and legal issues. References, tables, figures, and photographs