Inter-agency collaboration factors affecting multidisciplinary workers' ability to identify child maltreatment

Area of Science:

• Social Sciences
• Public Health
• Child Welfare

Background:

• Effective identification of child maltreatment relies on multidisciplinary teams.
• Inter-agency collaboration is crucial for comprehensive child protection efforts.
• Gaps in collaboration can hinder early detection and intervention for child abuse.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify key factors of successful inter-agency collaboration.
• To examine how these factors influence multidisciplinary workers' ability to identify child maltreatment.
• To provide insights for improving child protection systems through enhanced collaboration.

Main Methods:

• A questionnaire-based survey was administered to 277 multidisciplinary workers in Japan.
• The survey included a developed Collaboration Evaluation Scale and measures of child maltreatment identification abilities.
• Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was employed to analyze the data.

Main Results:

• "Commitment with loyalty" positively impacted awareness of child maltreatment information across all fields (β=.18-.31, p<.05).
• "Strong leadership" positively affected awareness of information on maltreated children and home environments (β=.18, p<.05; β=.16, p<.05).
• "Resources" positively influenced awareness of maternal prenatal information and paternal perinatal feelings (β=.17, p<.05; β=.22, p<.01).

Conclusions:

• Commitment with loyalty, strong leadership, and resources are critical factors for successful inter-agency collaboration.
• These collaborative factors significantly enhance multidisciplinary workers' capacity to recognize child maltreatment.
• Strengthening these elements can improve early detection and intervention in child protection.