Building workforce capacity to detect and respond to child abuse and neglect cases: A training intervention for staff working in emergency settings in Vietnam

Abstract

Background: Too many children are brought to hospital emergency departments on numerous occasions before they are recognised as victims of child abuse and neglect. For this reason, improving knowledge and response behaviors of emergency staff at all levels is likely to have a significant impact on better outcomes.

Aim: An Australian based training programme was the first of its kind to address this issue in a Vietnamese Emergency Department. Titled 'Safe Children Vietnam', the programme aimed to improve knowledge, attitudes and reporting behaviors concerning child abuse in the emergency setting.

Method: A pre-post test design was used to evaluate the impact of 'Safe Children Vietnam' on emergency staff knowledge, attitudes and intentions to report child abuse and neglect.

Results: Emergency staff including doctors, nurses and healthcare staff (n=116) participated in the clinical training programme. Linear Mixed Model analyses showed that on programme completion, they were more likely to recognise serious cases of all types of abuse.

Conclusion: The 'Safe Children Vietnam' programme was effective at improving emergency staff knowledge of child abuse and neglect. A systems wide approach may be necessary to impact on emergency staff attitudes towards reporting cases of abuse.

Keywords: Child abuse; Child maltreatment; Intervention; Intimate partner violence; Nursing; Screening; Training.