Recognizing and reporting of child maltreatment in a pediatric primary care setting
Abstract
Child abuse and neglect, together known as child maltreatment, is a global problem with grim lifelong consequences (WHO, n.d.). Education and confidence in reporting child maltreatment are imperative for medical providers who are responsible for the evaluation of children during routine visits with pediatric providers. Research continues to link child maltreatment with adverse health outcomes that span throughout a person's lifetime. For this reason, medical providers must be provided with continued education on early recognition and reporting of concerns for child maltreatment. The purpose of this project is to increase provider knowledge on the identification and reporting of child maltreatment. An educational intervention focused on child physical abuse identification with a pretest/posttest design will be presented to medical professionals in a pediatric primary care setting using the TEN-4 FACESp Bruising Rule. There will be two pre and post-test questionnaires to measure identification and confidence in identifying signs of child maltreatment and reporting findings concerning child maltreatment to Child Protective Services (CPS) or a child maltreatment team.