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Campaign overview
- This research was conducted following the launch of the Protecting Children and Young People pilot media campaign in Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire and Moray in February 2005. The research comprised two surveys: a national survey to gauge public attitudes to child protection issues across Scotland, and a pilot to evaluate the pilot and its ability to communicate its key messages.
- The campaign was targeted at the Scottish adult population in Grampian. Although the campaign was about protecting children and young people, it was aimed at the general population, rather than only those with children or those in contact with children at work.
- The aims of the campaign were:
- to raise public awareness of child protection issues and that not all children at risk are easy to recognise
- to increase public attentiveness to the 'early signs' of neglect or harm in children and young people
- to emphasise individual and community responsibility in relation to child protection
- to provide a mechanism for people concerned about a child or young person to make contact with the authorities
- The pilot campaign covered local radio, local press, outdoor advertising and posters for the police, GP surgeries and schools.
Highlights
General awareness of child protection issues across Scotland:
A large majority of adults across Scotland agreed that:
- Everyone has a responsibility to help protect children and young people (97%)
- If they were concerned about a child, they would contact someone who could take this further (93%)
- It is very difficult to know whether a child or young person may be at risk of, or suffering from, neglect or abuse (78%)
Impact of campaign:
- Over half of the respondents (54%) recognised some part of the campaign when prompted. This is relatively high considering only radio, press and posters were used.
- Questions were posed to both respondents in the national survey and in the pilot area on their attitudes towards child protection which reflected campaign messages. Findings suggest that the campaign messages appear more strongly in the pilot area than nationally, and in particular, among the recognisers of the campaign:
- A key campaign message 'it is very difficult to know whether a child or young person may be at risk of or suffering from neglect or abuse' was expressed by 92% of recognisers of the campaign, compared to 78% of the national 'control' figure.
- Similarly, 84% of recognisers agreed that they would welcome more information about how to identify whether a child or young person is being neglected or abused, compared to only 66% for the national sample.
- The campaign appears to have encouraged people to reassess what they thought they knew about who to contact if they believed that a child was at risk. 81% of the national survey respondents, 75% in the pilot area and 68% amongst recognisers of the campaign felt that they would know who to contact. Although recognisers appeared less sure as a group of knowing who to contact, they were as equally likely as the other groups to name the local authorities or the police as who they would contact if they had concerns.
Implications
- As a result of these findings, it has been clearly indicated that the public feel they need more information on both how to recognise whether a child or young person may be at risk of or suffering from neglect or abuse and how to report their concerns.
- Consideration is needed on how to plug these knowledge gaps and examine what work can be done locally to raise awareness of what signs to look out for in children and young people.
- Further research may be needed to consider what the barriers are to people reporting their concerns - is it just that they do not know the signs or are there issues such as who to contact, or what will happen, that play a part.