Summary
A retrospective view of Child Guidance Clinic referrals from a working class area distinguished ‘battered families’ with referred non-accidentally injured children from other families. Marital and social instability, history of maternal psychiatric treatment, paternal unemployment, criminal and prison records and a high rate of general mobility were distinguishing features of the families of injured children. The study suggests strongly that non-accidental injury to children is quite common in Ireland, that serious injuries occur but that fatalities are suprisingly infrequent. Furthermore, national epidemiological research is required.
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McCarthy, I., McQuaid, P.E. Suspected non-accidental injury to children — A comparative study. I.J.M.S. 150, 1–5 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02938184
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02938184