The role of health professionals in preventing non‐accidental head injury

Abstract

AbstractThe aim of this paper is to reflect on the role that the health professions can play in preventing a serious form of physical child abuse. Using research data from a case series study on non‐accidental head injury, or shaken baby syndrome, some aspects of child healthcare are reviewed for their potential for prevention. In child protection in the UK, more resources are put into the diagnosis and assessment of child abuse than into interventions designed for prevention. The field of prevention is generally lacking in a theoretical underpinning or systematic means of evaluation and yet the 1996 National Commission of Inquiry into the Prevention of Child Abuse concluded that child abuse ‘can almost always be prevented provided the will to do so is there’ (National Commission of Inquiry into the Prevention of Child Abuse, 1996). This requires major changes to the way society views and protects children. The focus in this paper is on the very young, mainly babies under 6 months of age. It calls for a lowering of the threshold with which health professionals view a baby's illness for secondary prevention of non‐accidental head injury and the need to review approaches to primary prevention, both from the UK and abroad, in order to implement a systematic means to primary prevention. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.