Research articleWhat factors increase Dutch child health care professionals’ adherence to a national guideline on preventing child abuse and neglect?☆
Section snippets
Study Design
This study used a cross-sectional design. An online survey was conducted among CHC professionals working in seventeen Dutch preventive CHC organisations. Data collection took place in 2013 between May 13 and July 5.
The CAN Guideline
One of the first clinical guidelines on preventing CAN in The Netherlands was developed specifically for preventive CHC professionals. This clinical guideline on early detection and responses to suspected CAN was published and implemented nationwide in 2010 (Fleuren et al., 2015,
Response
From the 328 respondents (response rate 31.0%), 164 were excluded from further analyses, because they did not represent the target group (n = 2), only answered questions about background characteristics (n = 44), were not aware of the guideline or had not read it (n = 46), did not have suspicions of CAN in the twelve months preceding their participation in the study (n = 27) or did not have valid answers on all variables relevant for the multivariate analysis (n = 45). Appendix B presents a complete
Discussion
This study investigated the extent to which Dutch CHC professionals adhered to seven key activities described in a national clinical practice guideline on preventing CAN directed at the preventive CHC setting. This study also examined the presence and strength of determinants of adherence to the CAN guideline. The study was restricted to participants who were familiar with the guideline and had reported at least one suspicion of CAN between May 2012 and May 2013.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the Dutch Centre for Child Health (NCJ) for facilitating contact with all Dutch preventive child health care organisations. We would also like to express our gratitude to the preventive child health care organisations and professionals who contributed to this study.
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