Psychologist: Clinicians should be trained in early signs of abused child

Accra, Aug. 4, GNA - Dr Ama Kyerewaa Edwin, Clinical Psychologist at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, on Thursday called for continuing education in the detection of early signs and symptoms of abuse.

Speaking at the close of the Seventh Annual Public Lectures of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) in Accra on the theme; "Child Abuse in Ghana", she said this should be incorporated into the professional medical training programmes and courses.

She said clinicians and health care providers were uniquely placed to recognize and respond to indicators of potential child abuse and had a key role in identifying, treating and referring cases of suspected child abuse.

"It is an emotive issue that raises complex clinical and ethical issues, and is a problem that has been under-recognised in clinical training and research and it is about time we talked about it". Dr Edwin said child abuse was a significant public health problem, which had major implication for clinicians and health services.

The two-day lectures provided the platform for discussions by researchers and stakeholders on the issue and build a consensus that would culminate in the development of effective care and support systems for affected children.

Dr Edwin said there was an increasing recognition of child abuse in the community and there was the need to improve early detection and implement effective early intervention.

She said children commonly got injured accidentally in the course of daily activities and play and the skin, bone or the central nervous system were the parts most commonly affected.

Dr Edwin advised clinicians to always pay attention to the oral cavity, groin and scalp for signs of occult trauma when examining an abused child and stressed that "you should always examine the child while completely undressed".

Dr Edwin said suggestive parts of the body of an abused child for unexplained injuries were the buttocks, thighs, neck, ear, chest and abdomen and urged clinicians to take notice.

She explained that children, who had gone through emotional abuse suffered from speech disorders; sallow, empty facial appearance; psychosocial dwarfism, unrealistic fears, depression and develop habit disorder of biting, rocking head, banging and thumb sucking. She advised clinicians to also look out for early signs such as difficulty in walking, bloody underclothing, semen on genitals, pain on urination, swelling, itching in genital areas, multiple urinary tract infections and vaginal or penile discharge in sexually abused children. Dr Ebenezer Badoe, a lecturer at the Department of Child Health of the University of Ghana Medical School, who spoke on: "Case Presentation" said there was no simple model to understand the behaviours of perpetrators of child abuse.

He said children should to be taught how to recognize abusive situations and how to respond assertively, adding, "Children are unbeatable creatures of God and should be protected".