Citation

Reading R. Child Care Health Dev. 2008; 34(6).

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Comments on the article entitled, Domestic violence: What should paediatricians do by R. M. Brooks and A. M. Mott (2008). This paper aims to define the problem of domestic abuse, focusing on the problems for children, defining the extent of the problem and what paediatricians can do. It gives some background for paediatricians to a UK government document about how health professionals should respond to domestic abuse. It summarizes the effects on children, the risks of maltreatment to children as well as adults, the response that paediatricians should have and the evidence that an appropriate response and subsequent interventions will have an effect. Sadly, this evidence is fairly limited, but it does not reduce the importance of enquiring and identifying domestic abuse. These and other related articles have changed my own practice in that I am now much more comfortable about raising this issue in routine paediatric consultations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)