Objective: This study investigates the opinions of social workers, pediatri
cians, and physician assistants in their support for the existing child mal
treatment mandated reporting policy and an alternative reporting policy. Di
fferences in professional training, age, gender, reporting behavior, attitu
des towards reporting, and level of certainty needed to report were conside
red in determining which group of mandated reporters was most likely to sup
port either the existing or an alternative policy.
Method: A total of 382 social workers, pediatricians, and physician assista
nts in Connecticut and Massachusetts completed a self-report questionnaire.
This sample represented an overall adjusted response rate of 76%.
Results: There was slightly more support for the existing reporting policy
compared to the alternative policy. After controlling for age, attitudinal
variables, and reporting behavior, social workers were significantly more l
ikely to favor an alternative child maltreatment reporting policy than pedi
atricians or physician assistants. Also, those mandated reporters who had n
ot consistently reported all suspected cases of maltreatment were significa
ntly more likely to favor the alternative policy than consistent reporters.
Conclusions: Because the majority of mandated reporters do nor consistently
report all suspected cases of maltreatment and support for an alternative
reporting policy varies among different groups, consideration of alternativ
e strategies and policies that address the concerns of different types of p
rofessionals may be appropriate. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd.