Post-doctoral Researcher, School of Social Work, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
Professor of Social Work, School of Social Work, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
Health Soc Care Community. 2022 Nov;30(6):e4782-e4792. doi: 10.1111/hsc.13885. Epub 2022 Jun 14.
This study investigated how physicians, nurses, and social workers in community health care services make judgements about possible child maltreatment in ambiguous situations. We examined the influences of social biases (i.e., perceptions linking ethnicity, gender, and family socioeconomic status to child maltreatment) and belonging to distinctive occupational groups (i.e., physicians, nurses, and social workers) on professionals' assessment of suspected child maltreatment, intention to consult with others, and reporting. We used an experimental survey design including vignettes presenting a child's history inspired by real-life clinical cases. Data were collected from 397 health care professionals-170 physicians, 179 nurses, and 48 social workers-employed at community health care clinics in northern Israel. Findings show that the child's gender and family socioeconomic status had significant effects on assessment of possible child maltreatment. Also, professionals' occupational group had significant effects on assessment of child maltreatment and intention to pursue consultation. Another key finding was the significant effects of judgements about child maltreatment assessment, consultation, and reporting on one another. The study reinforces efforts to improve health care professionals' management of suspected child maltreatment that include the development of clinical decision support systems that use routinely collected electronic medical record data.
本研究调查了社区卫生保健服务中的医生、护士和社会工作者如何在模棱两可的情况下对可能的虐待儿童行为做出判断。我们研究了社会偏见（即，将种族、性别和家庭社会经济地位与虐待儿童联系起来的看法）以及属于不同职业群体（即医生、护士和社会工作者）对专业人员评估疑似虐待儿童、咨询意愿和报告的影响。我们使用了一种实验性调查设计，包括基于真实临床案例的儿童病史描述。数据来自以色列北部社区卫生保健诊所的 397 名卫生保健专业人员，其中包括 170 名医生、179 名护士和 48 名社会工作者。研究结果表明，儿童的性别和家庭社会经济地位对可能的虐待儿童行为的评估有显著影响。此外，专业人员的职业群体对虐待儿童的评估和寻求咨询的意愿也有显著影响。另一个重要发现是对虐待儿童评估、咨询和报告的判断相互之间有显著影响。这项研究加强了为改善卫生保健专业人员对疑似虐待儿童的管理而做出的努力，包括开发使用常规收集的电子病历数据的临床决策支持系统。
