Organizational factors affecting nurses' tendency to report child abuse and neglect.

Objective: To examine the factors that affect the tendency of nurses working in mother and child health clinics (MCHC) to report child abuse to the authorities.

Design: Cross-sectional survey.

Sample: Three hundred and forty-one female nurses working in MCHC across Israel.

Measurements: (1) Social and organizational variables; (2) the tendency to report child abuse and neglect; (3) attitudes toward reporting child abuse and neglect.

Results: On average, the participants perceived that they have good collaboration with other staff members and with welfare services. They showed a favorable attitude toward reporting child abuse, but less than half (44.8%) would report child abuse suspicion to the authorities. None of the organizational variables (MCHC type, collaboration among staff, collaboration with welfare services) were correlated with the tendency to report child abuse and neglect, yet all three variables were significantly correlated with attitudes toward reporting child abuse. Nurses' attitudes toward reporting were mediated by the organizational variables.

Conclusions: The effect of the organizational factors on the actual tendency to report child abuse is mediated by nurses' attitude toward reporting. Organizational constraints probably encourage MCHC nurses to be cautious before reporting child abuse and neglect to the authorities, restricting adherence to the law, which requires direct reporting.