Perception of Physical Child Abuse Among Parents and Professionals in a French Emergency Department

Abstract

France has not prohibited all forms of corporal punishment, and the point at which an act is regarded as physical abuse is not clearly determined. The aim of our study was to compare perception of a caregiver's violent behavior toward his child by professionals and parents in an emergency department and determine characteristics associated with that perception. A cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2013 to October 2014 in the emergency department of the pediatric university hospital in Bordeaux, France. An anonymous self-administered questionnaire, including vignettes describing hypothetical situations of violent interaction between a parent and child, and items related to sociodemographic and family characteristics, was administered to professionals and parents. Vignettes included varying child's age and behavior, frequency of caregiver's behavior, hitting with/without an object, and targeted child's body part. Violent behavior was restricted to hitting for reasons of feasibility. Respondents were asked to rate the acceptability of situations on a 100-mm visual analog scale. Analyses were multivariate mixed Poisson regressions. A total of 1,001 participants assessed the vignettes. Participants were predominantly females (64%), married or living with a partner (87%), with a median age of 34 years. Professionals assessed vignettes as acceptable significantly more than parents (mean rating 2.8 times higher; p < .001). For both professionals and parents, all vignette characteristics were significantly associated with acceptability. Parents who had a child below 1 year old, those who had visited an emergency department many times in the past year, and those who had fewer children were less tolerant. Such findings indicate the need for additional research to better appreciate consequences and severity of violent behavior toward children, and the need to educate parents and professionals.

Parents’ and children’s perceptions of child maltreatment

“…It was reported that sexual abuse (whether mild or severe) was considered as being more traumatic and severe if the parent was the perpetrator, yet the identity of the perpetrator did not affect perceptions of physical abuse. Bailhache, Alioum, and Salmi (2017) found that healthcare professionals often misdiagnosed victims of physical abuse due to personal perceptions and the variety of definitions to abuse. These studies' results suggest that people have widely varying beliefs or attitudes about what constitutes child maltreatment and its later consequences.…”

Perceptions of Child Maltreatment Among Professionals and the Public in Singapore

“…Professionals may view such behaviors as less serious due to their specialized knowledge of child maltreatment (Giovannoni & Becerra, 1979; Pierce & Bozalek, 2004). Alternatively, the perception of behaviors as less serious could also reflect professionals’ greater tolerance of potentially abusive behaviors than the public (Bailhache et al., 2017). As professionals cope with the frequent exposure to cases of child maltreatment, they might also be inevitably desensitized toward maltreatment behaviors and may consequently perceive them as being less serious (Wright et al., 2006).…”

“…Pioneered by Giovannoni and Becerra (1979), the second group of studies examines differences in maltreatment perceptions across professional and public groups. These studies compared maltreatment perceptions across various professional groups, or across professional and public groups (e.g., Bailhache et al., 2017; Segal & Iwai, 2004). Other groups have also been sampled, with one recent study surveying maltreatment perceptions among children (Lev-Wiesel et al., 2019).…”

“…Nevertheless, the difference in professionals’ and the public’s perceptions is rarely consistent. Some studies found that professionals rated vignettes depicting potential maltreatment as more acceptable (Bailhache et al., 2017; Orhon et al., 2006) and less severe (Giovannoni & Becerra, 1979; Pierce & Bozalek, 2004) than the public. Other studies found that professionals and the public perceived the potential maltreatment scenarios similarly (J.…”

Self‐justification in decision‐making: Chinese child welfare workers' inconsistency of perceptions and experiences matters in reporting child abuse

“…To measure child welfare workers' inconsistent judgements or assessments of case information, this study employs the perception of child abuse. Perception of child abuse is viewed as the embodiment of the complex influence of social environment characteristics and social norms (Bailhache, Alioum & Salmi 2020). The concept has been widely used to depict mandatory reporters' general awareness of child abuse (Alzoubi et al, 2018) and to examine the differences across regions and cultures (Fakunmoju & Bammeke, 2013).…”