by Elaine Ennis
The University of Dundee's Centre for Child Care and Protection Studies was a supporter of the first European Conference on Shaken Baby Syndrome held recently in Edinburgh (19-20 May). Delegates from 21 countries and representing the medical, legal, law enforcement, social work and nursing professions - as well as families - gathered to hear the latest research and to attend educational workshops.
During the comprehensive programme of keynote speeches and workshops, Elaine Ennis, from the Centre for Child Care and Protection Studies, presented her recent research findings along with Martin Henry, Child Protection Co-ordinator for Edinburgh and the Lothians. Elaine has been working for more than two years with Dr Robert Minns at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh. Over fifteen years, Dr Minns, a paediatric neurologist, has built a database of cases of non-accidental head injury or abusive head trauma across Scotland. A number of studies including bio-mechanics, neurological and developmental follow-up and incidence rates have been conducted in recent times.
Elaine's work focuses on social factors in cases where babies have been shaken and on the subsequent decisions made about the care and protection of surviving children in civil and criminal proceedings.
Findings emerging from the study indicate that it is unwise to hold preconceived ideas about the families where this type of abuse happens. The mean age of parents or caregivers tends to be younger than the national mean however ages range from late teens to middle age. Similarly, although there appear to be more families in occupational groups classed as unskilled, semiskilled and skilled manual workers, it is known that babies are also injured in families where parents are professionals.
Domestic violence, parental mental health concerns, substance misuse and the parents' own histories affect the capacity to parent a young child and are very important issues.
A key theme in most studies concerns gender; where the abuser is identified it is most often a man who causes the injuries (around 70% in several studies) and boy babies appear to be victims more often than girls (around 2:1 ratio). Elaine had the opportunity to compare her emerging data with authors of similar studies in Wales and England and found major areas of consistency.
The workshop explored the ways professionals such as police officers and social workers involved in investigations and assessment can make best use of findings on social factors. The complexity of risk assessment was debated and Elaine and Martin emphasised the importance of detailed, corroborated assessment reports to inform decision makers. The findings and workshop discussion will be published in a special conference edition of Paediatric Rehabilitation later this year.