Core components of public health approaches to preventing child abuse and neglect

Safety and wellbeing, Young People, Child maltreatment, Abuse, Intervention programs, Child Abuse

This chapter is part of a larger work on child maltreatment and takes a prevention-focused approach to child abuse and neglect by drawing on lessons from the public health sector. The authors argue that a public health approach can help refocus attention on the structural forces affecting families and improving safety and wellbeing outcomes for children.

Tensions in the therapeutic relationship: Emotional labour in the response to child abuse and neglect in primary healthcare

Journal article, Case Study, Child Abuse, Healthcare, Journal article, Case Study

This study, published in BMC Primary Care, sought to understand how GPs and nurses experience the response to child abuse in primary healthcare. The study found that mandatory reporting obligations created significant emotional labour at the internal, organisational and systemic levels as participants struggled to maintain the therapeutic relationship. The article concludes with strategies that can be employed to reduce the labour burden, which can also be applied by other workforces with mandatory reporting obligations.