Department of Women's and Children's Health, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
Department of Epidemiology and Global Health, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
PLoS One. 2020 Feb 20;15(2):e0228911. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0228911. eCollection 2020.
To explore parents' experiences of seeking health care for their children and instead being accused by healthcare professionals of Shaken Baby Syndrome/Abusive Head Trauma (SBS/AHT), being reported to Social Services, undergoing judiciary processing, and the impact of these events on family (dis)integration.
Design: A qualitative study based on qualitative content analysis. Participants: Twelve parents in Sweden, mothers and fathers, seeking health care for their infants, encountering allegations of SBS/AHT, losing custody of their infants, and being subjected to a judiciary process, and finally regaining custody of their children. Data collection: In-depth interviews.
An overarching theme 'Fighting for protection of their child after being trapped by doctors' and four sub-themes were developed to reflect the parents' experiences, reactions and interpretations. The first sub-theme, 'Being accused of injuring the child', illuminated the shock experienced when seeking care and instead being accused of being a perpetrator. The second, 'Chaos and powerlessness', refers to the emotions experienced when losing custody of the child and being caught in the enforcement of legislation by the authorities. The third, ´The unified fight against the doctors' verdict´, illustrates the parents' fight for innocence, their worry for the lost child, and their support and resistance. The fourth, 'The wounded posttraumatic growth', describes the emotions, grief, panic, anxiety, and challenges in reuniting the family, but also the parents' reflections on personal growth. Unanimously, they had experienced the authorities' inability to reconsider, and expressed a deep mistrust of paediatric care.
Being wrongly accused of child abuse and alleged SBS/AHT evoked emotions of intense stress, but parents endured because of a successful fight to regain custody of their child. However, the trauma had a long-term impact on their lives with residual posttraumatic stress symptoms and mistrust towards healthcare services and the authorities. The results provide important inferences for restoring system failures within child protection services.
探讨父母在为子女寻求医疗保健时，却被医疗保健专业人员指责为摇晃婴儿综合征/虐待性头部外伤（SBS/AHT），被转介到社会服务机构，接受司法处理，以及这些事件对家庭（解体）的影响。
设计：基于定性内容分析的定性研究。参与者：瑞典的 12 名父母，母亲和父亲，为他们的婴儿寻求医疗保健，遭遇 SBS/AHT 的指控，失去对婴儿的监护权，并接受司法程序，最终重新获得对孩子的监护权。数据收集：深入访谈。
一个总体主题是“在被医生困住后为保护孩子而奋斗”，并提出了四个子主题来反映父母的经历、反应和解释。第一个子主题是“被指控伤害孩子”，描绘了在寻求医疗保健时感到震惊，而不是被指控为肇事者。第二个主题是“混乱和无力”，指的是失去对孩子的监护权以及被当局执行立法所困的情绪。第三个主题是“团结一致地反对医生的判决”，说明了父母为清白而战，对失去的孩子的担忧，以及他们的支持和抵制。第四个主题是“创伤后的创伤后成长”，描述了重新团聚家庭的情绪、悲伤、恐慌、焦虑和挑战，但也反映了父母对个人成长的反思。他们一致表示，当局没有能力重新考虑，对儿科护理表示深深的不信任。
被错误地指控虐待儿童和涉嫌 SBS/AHT 引起了强烈的压力情绪，但父母为了成功夺回对孩子的监护权而坚持下来。然而，创伤对他们的生活产生了长期影响，留下了创伤后应激症状和对医疗保健服务和当局的不信任。这些结果为恢复儿童保护服务系统中的失败提供了重要的推断。
