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Experiences and views of general practitioners concerning sexually‐abused children
Author(s) -
Winefield Helen R.,
CastellMcGregor Sally N.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1986.tb113834.x
Subject(s) - medicine , family medicine , obligation , statutory law , psychiatry , child protection , medical emergency , nursing , political science , law
This study aimed to determine the types of clinical experience that general practitioners have had with sexually‐abused children, and what practitioners perceive as requirements in the detection and management of sexually‐abused children. Subjects were 279 South Australian non‐specialist medical practitioners, selected by quasirandom procedures, of whom 76% responded to a postal questionnaire. The number of sexually‐abused children ever seen by the 193 doctors who responded averaged 1.2; 54% of the respondents had not seen such cases. In addition to the request for a record of experiences with sexually‐abused children, the questionnaire included categories on: sources of the respondents' information on sexually‐abused children; the respondents' perceived need for more information; an assessment of the adequacy of current treatment services; their attitudes to the legal obligation to report suspected cases to statutory authorities; and the main sources of their hesitation to report. Considerable concern evidently exists among family doctors about their ability to detect and manage cases of sexually‐abused children. The reasons for their low reporting rates are discussed in terms of both medical education and of the operation of local treatment services for sexually‐abused children.