2023 Volume 72 Issue 3 Pages 258-270
Objective: The Revised Child Welfare Act was introduced in 2018 and mandated the placement of doctors and public health nurses at child guidance centers in Japan. The act became effective in April 1, 2022, with reports showing that professional officers needed to enhance their expertise. But there are no reports showing differences in recognition and perspectives between officers working in child guidance centers. This study aimed to identify current and future role recognition and perspectives on maltreatment of professional officers when making an assessment.
Method: The study group included child welfare officers, child psychologists, and public health nurses employed at 214 child guidance centers throughout Japan. The respondents completed an anonymous, written questionnaire that collected personal information and information about current role recognition, role recognition that should be performed in the future, and perspectives on maltreatment when making an assessment. Descriptive statistics were performed on the items analyzed, and in order to confirm differences in response trends between occupations, Kruskal-Wallis tests were conducted for items with three options or more, and multiple comparisons were made with Dunn-Bonferroni tests for items that showed a significant difference. For items with two options, the χ2 test was performed, and multiple comparisons were made by calculating adjusted standardized residuals.
Results: Of the 395 responses, 381 (96.5%) were eligible for analysis. Child welfare officers, child psychologists and public health nurses represented 44.1%, 44.4%, and 11.5%, of the study population, respectively. Child welfare officers were significantly higher than other professionals in 4 out of 20 items, including “observation, confirmation, and risk assessment in initial investigation,” and significantly higher than other professionals in only “operational support to the Regional Council for Children in Need of Protection” out of 20 items in the tasks/roles they should take on in the future. In implementation of consultation and guidance, public health nurses were lower than other occupations in 6 out of 12 items, but significantly higher than other occupations in 4 out of 24 items from the perspective of assessment, including residential environment and relationship with the local community.
Conclusion: Current role recognition, future role recognition, and perspectives on maltreatment when making an assessment were identified in professional officers. Most roles were concentrated mainly in child welfare officers, while public health nurses were not able to play their role adequately using their knowledge, abilities, and experiences. The results of this study are helpful for functional enhancement of child guidance centers by facilitating a mutual understanding of one another's expertise, and considering these three kinds of professional officer's expertise.
