%0 Journal Article
%T Interprofessional Collaboration in the Detection of and Early Intervention in Child Maltreatment: Employees' Experiences
%A Jaana Inkil£¿
%A Aune Flinck
%A Tiina Luukkaala
%A P£¿ivi £¿stedt-Kurki
%A Eija Paavilainen
%J Nursing Research and Practice
%D 2013
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2013/186414
%X Child maltreatment is a global problem and a multidimensional phenomenon occurring in all social classes. This study depicts interprofessional collaboration associated with the detection of and early intervention in child maltreatment taking place in the family. The data were collected in a large Finnish city, Tampere (207 866 citizens). A survey was administered to employees in day care, basic education, social and health services, and police ( ). The results indicate that interprofessional collaboration associated with the detection of and intervention in child maltreatment was best accomplished by social service employees and police personnel. Employees in day care, basic education, health services, and police had little knowledge of the methods used in other units. The most support for collaboration was reported by employees in social services and day care. The results provide basic knowledge of interprofessional collaboration associated with child maltreatment between the agencies involved in the study. The research evidence can also be utilized in an international context when developing collaboration between different fields. 1. Introduction The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child [1] emphasizes the best interests of the child and his or her right to special protection. The convention is an effort to secure the child¡¯s right to parents and family, but on the other hand, emphasis is laid on society¡¯s obligation to offer the child protection and care if the child is being maltreated. Following the age definition laid out in the convention, the present study defined all human beings under the age of 18 as children. In this study, child maltreatment refers to physical and psychological abuse, sexual abuse and neglect occurring in the family, and living in the atmosphere of domestic violence. Different forms of maltreatment may appear either in isolation or in various combinations, and it is often difficult to make a distinction between the different forms of abuse [2¨C5]. Child maltreatment may vary in severity: it can involve any activity or lack of activity associated with a child or a child¡¯s life circumstances resulting in a deterioration of the child¡¯s life situation [2¨C4]. Child maltreatment is present in all societies, but due to different methods of recording statistics and differences in the detection of the phenomenon, there are no reliable and comparable figures on the incidence of child maltreatment. National assessments and comparisons in Western countries have been made, however [4]. In addition, comparison is made
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/nrp/2013/186414/