Citation

Okato A, Hashimoto T, Tanaka M, Tachibana M, Machizawa A, Okayama J, Endo M, Senda M, Saito N, Iyo M. J. Multidiscip. Healthc. 2018; 11: 121-130.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Dove Press)

DOI

10.2147/JMDH.S155352

PMID

29503560

PMCID

PMC5826206

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Child abuse and/or neglect is a serious issue, and in many cases, parents are the perpetrators. Hospital-based child protection teams (CPTs) play pivotal roles in the management of not only abused and/or neglected children but also of their parents; this is generally conducted through multidisciplinary practice. The aim of this study is to survey hospital-based CPT members to determine the professions they perceive to be most applicable to participation in CPTs. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: The participants were members of CPTs affiliated with hospitals that had pediatric emergency departments and which were located in Chiba Prefecture; specifically, 114 CPT members from 23 hospitals responded to this survey. The two main questionnaire items concerned are as follows: 1) each respondent's evaluation of conducting assessments, providing support, and implementing multidisciplinary collaborative practice in the treatment of abusive and negligent parents, and 2) each CPT member's opinion on the professions that are most important for CPT activities. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed to explore the factor structure of the data, and a correlation analysis was performed using the result obtained.

RESULTS: The EFA returned two factors: multidisciplinary collaborative practice (α = 0.84) and assessment and support (α = 0.89). A correlational analysis showed that multidisciplinary collaborative practice had a positive correlation for obstetricians (r= 0.315,p= 0.001), neonatologists (r= 0.261,p= 0.007), midwives (r= 0.248,p= 0.011), and psychiatrists (r= 0.194,p= 0.048); however, assessment and support was only significantly correlated with midwives (r= 0.208,p= 0.039).

CONCLUSION: This study showed that hospital-based CPT members highly evaluate multidisciplinary collaborative practice for the management of abusive and/or negligent parents, and they believe that, in addition to pediatric physicians and nurses, perinatal care and mental health professionals are the most important participants in advanced CPT activities.

Language: en

Keywords

abusive parents; child abuse and neglect; child protection services; maltreatment of children; multidisciplinary practice