TY - JOUR PY - 2008// TI - Queensland nurses' attitudes towards and knowledge of the legislative duty to report child abuse and neglect: results of a state-wide survey JO - Journal of law and medicine A1 - Mathews, Ben A1 - Fraser, James A1 - Walsh, Kerryann A1 - Dunne, M. A1 - Kilby, Sam A1 - Chen, L. SP - 288 EP - 304 VL - 16 IS - 2 N2 - In 2005, legislation commenced requiring Queensland nurses to make reports of suspected child abuse and neglect to government child protection authorities. This development further harmonised Australian mandatory reporting laws and their application to the nursing profession, although inconsistencies still exist between States and Territories. As indicated by research published in 2006, little is known about nurses and the reporting of child abuse and neglect. The legislative change in Queensland provided a new opportunity to study nurses' attitudes to reporting, knowledge of the legal reporting duty, and reporting practice, all of which provides much-needed evidence about the reporting of child abuse and neglect, and about the laws themselves. This article describes results from a State-wide survey of Queensland nurses. Findings have implications for law reform, nursing practice, and nurses' training in child abuse and neglect reporting.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 1320-159X UR - http://dx.doi.org/ ID - ref1 ER -