Recognizing and Preventing Child Abuse for Health Professionals

About this Course

In Canada, child maltreatment is a serious public health concern. Public Health Agency of Canada estimates that over 33% of Canadian children experience physical or sexual abuse at some point in their childhood.

Many studies indicate that underreporting by health care professionals is an issue. Reasons for this may be fear of legal action, loss of trust/relationship with the family, or making a false allegation.

The Office of the Child and Youth Advocate of NL report, "The Case for Specialized Health Care to Recognize and Prevent Child Sexual Abuse" highlighted the importance of the need for training of health professionals in this area. One of the recommendations being that Memorial University's Faculty of Medicine and School of Nursing collaboratively address improved education in this area, prompting the development of this teaching module.

Intended Audience - This course is designed to meet the learning needs of family physicians, specialists, and nurse practitioners in Newfoundland and Labrador who may be responsible for screening and preventing suspected child abuse.

Registration Cost - $0.00

Learning Objectives

After completing this course, you should be able to:

  1. Define child abuse/maltreatment, list various types and recognize associated risk factors
  2. Discuss federal and provincial child protection legislation and outline reporting requirements
  3. Describe the roles, rights and responsibilities of physicians, nurses and other health professionals in screening and preventing suspected child abuse
  4. Recognize, assess and document potential signs and symptoms of suspected child abuse
  5. Describe appropriate steps to take when reporting suspicion of child abuse to appropriate authorities
  6. Identify appropriate provider resources for facilitating the reporting of suspected abuse and providing ongoing support for the affected child/family

This continuing professional development (CPD) program has been designed to consider the CanMEDS - Family Medicine Competency Framework, including the roles of: Family Medicine Expert, Communicator, Collaborator, Health Advocate, Manager, and Professional.