Intrafamily violence against children and teenagers: a review of the national literature

Abstract

Violence against children and teenagers must be seen as a priority question for public health. This paper aims to investigate the national literature produced by health professionals regarding theoretical production on this topic. It also aims to identify the most frequent approaches to the subject. A systematic review was performed and results were divided into four sections: (1) violence definitions; (2) characterization of violence against children and teenagers: the family, the aggressor and the attacked child; (3) protective legislation and notification of violence during childhood and adolescence; and (4) health professionals' measures of coping with violence against children and teenagers. These professionals have the privileged function of providing full attention to the patients and, in most cases, they are the first ones to be contacted by the victim or his relatives. This situation demands responsibility to assist and adopt the legal established measures. Therefore, health professionals must have an adequate qualification to act.