Citation

Gershoff ET, Font SA, Taylor CA, Garza AB, Olson-Dorff D, Foster RH. Child. Youth Serv. Rev. 2018; 94: 155-162.

Affiliation

St. Louis Children's Hospital, One Children's Place, St. Louis, Missouri, 63110; and Washington University School of Medicine, Campus Box 9999, St. Louis, Missouri, 63130; Rebecca.Foster@bjc.org.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.09.040

PMID

31105368

PMCID

PMC6516772

Abstract

This study used a pre/post design to evaluate the implementation of a hospital-wide No Hit Zone (NHZ) bystander intervention around parent-to-child hitting. A total of 2,326 staff completed the pre-NHZ survey and received training about the NHZ policy; 623 staff completed the post-test survey 10 months later. A group of 225 parents participated in the pre-NHZ survey and a second group of 180 participated in the post-NHZ survey, also 10 months later. Compared to staff in the pre-NHZ group, staff in the post-NHZ group had more negative attitudes about spanking and more positive attitudes about intervention when parents hit children in the hospital. Few differences were found among the parent pre- and post-groups. This study demonstrated that NHZs are a feasible way to inform and train hospital staff in ways to intervene during incidents of parent-to-child hitting to promote a safe and healthy medical environment.

Language: en

Keywords

No Hit Zone; bystander intervention; medical center; spanking; staff training; violence prevention