ASSESSMENT OF PAIN AND SUFFERING IN CHILD ABUSE AND HOMICIDE VICTIMS: SUGGESTIONS FOR SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE

Authors

  • René Albertyn The University of Cape Town, Rondebosch
  • Nico Nortjé University of the Western Cape

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15270/50-3-407

Abstract

Child abuse and homicide are on the increase worldwide. Often the burden falls upon social workers to argue the case of victims without being able to quantify the pain the children have suffered. A case study approach was used in which a High Court case was utilised as base to describe the proposed methodology to assess the level of pain, post-mortem, a victim could have gone through. The application was a four-step methodology constructed by using paediatric pain assessment. This study found that there is a need for the development of post-mortem pain scales to aid social workers.

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Author Biographies

René Albertyn, The University of Cape Town, Rondebosch

Dr René Albertyn, Department of Paediatric Surgery, Red Cross Children’s Hospital, The University of Cape Town, Rondebosch

Nico Nortjé, University of the Western Cape

Department Dietetics, University of the Western Cape, Bellville,

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Published

2014-11-11

How to Cite

Albertyn, R., & Nortjé, N. (2014). ASSESSMENT OF PAIN AND SUFFERING IN CHILD ABUSE AND HOMICIDE VICTIMS: SUGGESTIONS FOR SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE. Social Work/Maatskaplike Werk, 50(3). https://doi.org/10.15270/50-3-407

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