Child abuse & neglect
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This study examined factors associated with clinicians' concerns about abuse and neglect and reporting hospitalized children to Child Protective Services (CPS). Data came from a cross-sectional chart review from a random sample of pediatric hospitalizations 1988-1990 in three cities for five condition groups (n = 5,446), and included evidence of clinicians' concerns about physical abuse or neglect and reports to CPS, family income, ethnicity, family structure, child's age, and illness severity at admission. Concerns about abuse were noted in 2.5% of the total sample, concerns about neglect in 3.1%, and 2.9% of children were reported to CPS. ⋯ Severity of illness was associated with concerns about physical abuse (p = .02) among children with head trauma, and with concerns about neglect and frequency of reporting among children with meningitis (p < .01). Our results confirm the associations among neglect, poverty, and single-parent families among hospitalized children. Increasing severity of illness may make clinicians consciously or unconsciously consider that care has been delayed and the child neglected.