First-order construct | (n, %) | Description of construct | Illustrative quotes |
(1) Deciding when to report | n=40, 91% | Factors that influenced MRs’ decision to report, including:
| “The most obvious (signs) are easy. It’s the ones that are not so obvious, the ones that you have to dig for and explore to get to…those are the hardest ones…those are the ones that just haunt you.”95 “We need more time (than 24 hours) to interact with the child, evaluate the whole thing, and make a decision.”99 “If nothing comes out of it (report to CPS is unsubstantiated)…you’re scared…thinking, I just bothered this family for no reason based on my assumptions.”75 |
(a) Evidence | n=32, 73% | ||
(b) Context of reporter | n=28, 64% | ||
(c) Alternative response | n=19, 43% | ||
(d) Perceived impact | n=12, 27% | ||
(e) Consultation | n=9, 20% | ||
(f) Context of family | n=8, 18% | ||
(2) Judgements and views towards the reporting process | n=34, 77% | Factors related to MRs’ general satisfaction with the reporting process, including:
| “Knowing the child protection agency in our area, nothing would come of a report.”57 “It’s pretty much a one way street as far as information goes. I find that really frustrating.”111 |
(a) Negative | n=33, 75% | ||
(b) Positive | n=11, 25% | ||
(3) Experiences with reporting | n=33, 73% | Examples of MRs’ positive or negative experiences with the reporting process, including:
| “You’ll call and say, ‘I have a such and such child who made an outcry that her uncle rubbed her breasts last night.’ And they’ll be like, ‘Well, was it over the clothes or under the clothes?’…I know that’s all part of their risk assessment and they have to get to the high-priority risk to be able to take a report, but it’s really challenging to hear someone on the other line say, ‘Well, you know, that’s just not bad enough.”101 “She made the student describe the sexual abuse experience again after they returned from the hospital. This is so (emphasised) wrong. The student should not have to experience secondary damage by going through this again and again.”109 |
(a) Negative | n=32, 74% | ||
(b) Positive | n=6, 14% | ||
(4) MRs’ values and knowledge | n=19, 43% | Values and knowledge that informed MRs throughout the reporting process:
| “Many times, we don’t have adequate knowledge about child abuse and the law. It is not extensively provided to every healthcare provider or to ordinary people. Without the knowledge, it is hard for us to be sensitive about the abuse or to find evidence of child abuse.”39 |
(5) Strategies for responding to disclosures of maltreatment and reporting | n=16, 36% | Practical strategies used by MRs during the reporting process, including:
| “My sense was that this child just wanted to know that she was safe and that she could tell someone, so I used that to help, in questioning her, reassuring her that nothing would happen if she told…(When the report was made) I presented it to her as that she wouldn’t get in trouble but that it was a secret that I couldn’t keep, and that it was something that I could help her with…she was very aware of the decision…The child knew what was going on and she felt comfortable with my telling her I was going to make a report.”91 |
(6) Responsibility | n=15, 34% |
| “I reported my suspicions to the doctor that was looking after the child and he reported it to the consultant.”76 |
(7) Experiences receiving a report | n=2, 5% |
| “So part of the issue for us is because we got all of these mandated reporters and intake has to take the complaint regardless, that’s the problem. It’s that they’re not permitted to say, well that’s not enough information.”97 |
CPS, child protective services; MRs, mandated reporters.