Safeguarding
10 min read
Safeguarding children – forms of abuse
Peter Ellis - Independent Nursing, Health and Social Care Consultant, Writer and Educator
First published:
Last updated:
It is important that nurses not only understand which children are more at risk of abuse, but also the forms that abuse might take. Understanding the forms of abuse which affect children means the nurse can:
- Help protect the child from abuse
- Be alert to the types of abuse which might be occurring
- Interpret some of the signs and symptoms of abuse
- Avoid being inadvertently abusive towards children in their care
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC, 2022) identify 13 forms of abuse which affect children, these are:
- Bullying and cyberbullying
- Criminal exploitation and gangs
- Domestic
- Emotional (psychological)
- Female genital mutilation
- Grooming
- Neglect
- Non-recent
- Online
- Physical
- Sexual
- Sexual exploitation
- Trafficking
Bullying and cyberbullying
Bullying takes many forms and is considered a major public health problem in childhood (World Health Organisation, 2012) and is often targeted towards children who are perceived as being in some different
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