Primary Care Pediatricians' Experience, Comfort and Competence in the Evaluation and Management of Child Maltreatment: Do We Need Child Abuse Experts?

• NCJ Number: 226923
• Journal: Child Abuse and Neglect Volume: 33 Issue: 2 Dated: February 2009 Pages: 76-83
• Author(s): Wendy G. Lane; Howard Dubowitz
• Date Published: February 2009
• Length: 8 pages
• Grant Number(s): T32-PE10009
• Sponsoring Agency: Health Resources and Services Admin (HRSA)
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

This study examined the self-reported experience, comfort, and competence of primary care pediatricians in evaluating and managing child maltreatment (CM).

Abstract

The majority of primary care pediatricians in this study had little experience evaluating and reporting children for suspected child abuse and neglect, and were supportive of the need for expert consultation. While pediatricians often felt competent in conducting medical exams for suspected maltreatment, they felt less competent in rendering a definite opinion, and did not feel generally competent to testify in court. Sense of competence was particularly low for sexual abuse. Increased practice experience and more courses in child maltreatments slightly strengthened pediatricians’ sense of competence in some areas. Though statistically significant, odds ratios and confidence intervals for increased practice experience and more courses were marginal. Findings point to the need for subspecialty training in child maltreatment; the newly developed subspecialty of Child Abuse Pediatrics has the potential to increase the number of child abuse experts. Data were collected from 147 respondents using a mailed questionnaire. Tables, figure, and references