Social Worker's Perception of Difficulties in Identifying, Managing and Intervening Cases of Child Abuse in China: A Phenomenological Qualitative Study

Background:Social work professions are responding decisively to the problem of child abuse in the United States; however, social work related to child abuse in China is still in the start-up phase. It remains unknown the perceived difficulties to deal with child abuse cases from social workers’ perspectives.

Objective:This study aims to study social workers’ perceptions of difficulties in identifying, managing and intervening cases of suspected child abuse in China from social workers’ perspective using a phenomenological approach.

Methods:We interviewed five social workers with more than 3 years social work experience working in the first institution providing social work services to victims of domestic violence in Shenzhen, Guangzhou Province, China. The interviews were transcribed verbatim in Chinese. Quotations from the interviews were selectively trans­lated into English to illustrate common themes. Qualitative content analysis began during initial data collection and continued until data saturation was reached.

Findings: Social workers perceived the difficulties in identifying, managing and intervening child abuse from three aspects: Barriers in Identification, Legislation Problems, and Difficulties in Social Work Practice. Four subthemes of Barriers in Identification were identified; they are 1) a lack of mandatory report policy, 2) the traditional belief that child is private properties of parents and child abuse is a private family matter, 3) Chinese society’s tolerance of discipline with physical force, and 4) public belief that it is better for abused children to stay with their abusive parents than to go to foster care or shelters. Three subthemes related to Legislation Problems were 1) the fact that abused children are ineligible to prosecute abusers, 2) a lack of regulatory laws related to child abuse, and 3) a lack of regulations related to social worker’s role in child abuse. Two subthemes under the theme of Difficulties in Social Practiceare 1) a lack of multi-sector corporations, and 2) a lack of social work experiences in the start-up stage.

Conclusion: This study is the first to understand social workers’ perceived difficulties in identifying, managing and intervening child abuse from social workers’ perspectives in China. Findings will help identify gaps in social work practice related to child abuse, and provide evidence for a discussion of what and how social workers and the public can do to address child abuse in China, as well as legislations related to child abuse.