Jacqueline Krupp is an Australian Rotary Health Scholarship recipient. She described her research into how nurses and GPs respond to child abuse in primary care, and the factors which influence their decisions to report child abuse. This involves managing trust and expectations, and managing relationships She described how carers have differing thresholds for responding, which could be influenced by a number of factors. Their duty of care extends to both the parents and affected children.

Jacqueline described a number of pathways and referral to support services: family violence, mental health, parents; and home visiting programmes, welfare and financial services. As the Laws on abuse vary from state to state, so do criteria for reporting offences. Young people, with GPs and nurses, can co-design a pathway to safety, rather than to continuing risk and harm. 

Jacqueline completed her PhD in November 2023 and has published three papers on the response to child abuse in Australian primary care. She has used these findings to write training modules for general practice staff, and hopes to continue her research on child sexual abuse and harmful sexual behaviour.

Following a number of questions from the floor, Chairman Angela Taft thanked Jacqueline for her insightful presentation.