Guidelines for health personnel on child abuse

On commission from the Norwegian Directorate of Health and Social Affairs, NKVTS has developed a knowledge-based guideline for health personnel for cases where there is suspected child abuse. The guideline is web-based and regularly updated.

Main objective

The purpose of the guidelines is to increase knowledge about child maltreatment so that exposed children can be identified as early as possible and be given rapid, proper and coordinated help.

Method

The guidelines were developed by a working group with solid experience in this field, and quality-checked by a reference group broadly composed of health workers with different areas of expertise, as well as experienced professionals from collaborating agencies.

The clinical chapters:

• Systematic review of literature and meta-analyses
• Newer, non-systematic reviews of literature published in respected medical journals
• Existing evidence based guidelines
• Literature search for the period 2000 – December 2010
• Clinical reference works

The Chapter Documentation builds upon

• National and international guidelines for good practice

The chapters that treat measures and interdisciplinary work in the health service and interaction with other sectors build upon

• Norwegian statutes, regulations and circulars
• Existing Norwegian guidelines and guides
• Best practice