Physical Abuse

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the problem of physical abuse in school-age children. The paper begins with a brief historical description of the problem, noting that it was not really until the later part of this century that the problem was fully recognized. This review of the historical background of the problem is followed by an examination of the scope of the problem, the psycho-emotional and physical effects of the problem, an epidemiological discussion and a delineation of several factors that place children at risk for physical abuse. The problem is shown to be both substantial and complex in nature. The second section of the paper proposes three health promotion strategies for remediating the problem of physical abuse in childhood. These strategies are: (1) a primary prevention screening strategy to be used to identify families at risk for abuse; (2) a secondary prevention strategy aimed at improving parents' knowledge of childhood development as well as their anger management and disciplinary skills; and (3) a tertiary prevention family counseling strategy. An evaluative method for determining the effectiveness of each strategy is also developed and described. Further, research is cited to support each developed strategy as an effective avenue for intervention with respect to the physical abuse of children.
The paper ends with a short summary of the nature of the problem. It also provides a summary of the three developed health promotion strategies.

From the Paper:

"Based on the research on assessment indicators of physical abuse (e.g., Logan and Dawkins, 1986; Klingbeil, 1986), the strategy developed here is two-fold. First, nurses would screen for the following indicators of physical abuse in children: (1) Unexplained injuries (e.g., burns, bite marks, subdural hematomas, old or recent fractures, etc.); (2) dehydration or malnourishment without obvious cause; (3) Ingestion of inappropriate food or drugs; (4) evidence of general poor hygiene; (5) the presence of strong fear of the nurse or others; (6) reports by the child of physical abuse; (7) old injuries not mentioned in the child's history; and (8) a tendency of the child to take care of the parent or speak for the parent."

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