Main Findings
Who would report child neglect / mistreatment to
Base: All respondents in campaign region (W1=577, W2=575) and non-campaign region (W2=373)
Q2 If you thought a child in your neighbourhood was being neglected or mistreated by its parents and you wanted to report this, to whom or how might you report this?
Spontaneous mentions of Child Protection Line (Campaign region)
Base: All respondents in campaign region (W2=575)
Q2 If you thought a child in your neighbourhood was being neglected or mistreated by its parents and you wanted to report this, to whom or how might you report this?
Spontaneous mentions of the Child Protection Line
- Respondents were asked (without prompting) who they would report the neglect or mistreatment of a child to.
- Specific mentions of the Child Protection Line give an indication of spontaneous awareness.
- At Waves 1 and 2, the Police and Social Workers / Social Services were most often mentioned - by just under half in the campaign / non-campaign regions.
- Mentions of the Child Protection Line were much lower
- There was no significant difference between waves in the campaign region; 14% at Wave 1 and 13% at Wave 2
- However, awareness in the non-campaign region was lower still - 6% at Wave 2
- The demographic groups most likely to mention the Child Protection Line spontaneously were females and those in the West (both 15% in the campaign region at Wave 2)
- The groups least likely to mention the Child Protection Line spontaneously were males and those aged 35-54 (both 11% in the campaign region) and those in the North (5% in the campaign region)
Prompted awareness of Child Protection Line (Campaign region)
Base: All respondents in campaign region (W1=577, W2=575)
Q6 Before today, had you heard of the Child Protection Line, a central phone number which people can phone if they think a child in their neighbourhood is being neglected or mistreated?
* Significant difference
Prompted awareness of Child Protection Line (Campaign region)
Base: All respondents in campaign region (W2=575)
Q6 Before today, had you heard of the Child Protection Line, a central phone number which people can phone if they think a child in their neighbourhood is being neglected or mistreated?
* Significant difference
Awareness summary (Wave 2)
Base: All respondents in campaign region (W2=575) and non-campaign region (W2=373)
Q2 and Q6
* Significant difference
Prompted awareness of the Child Protection Line
- Respondents were prompted with a description of the Child Protection Line and asked whether they had heard of it before, giving a measure of prompted awareness.
- In the campaign region, prompted awareness rose significantly from two thirds at Wave 1 to three quarters at Wave 2.
- There was no significant demographic difference in response at Wave 2, and even regions which had much lower awareness at a spontaneous level ( e.g. the North) rose considerably on prompting
- Prompted awareness was significantly higher amongst those who had seen the advertising campaign
- At Wave 2, although there was little difference in prompted awareness between the campaign and non-campaign regions, spontaneous awareness was significantly higher in the campaign region
Prompted awareness of poster advertising
Base: All respondents (W2=1,002)
Q3 Have you seen this or similar advertising in newspapers or on posters or phone boxes at all recently?
* Significant difference
Awareness of poster advertising by demographics (Campaign region)
Base: All respondents in campaign region (W2=575)
Q3 Have you seen this or similar advertising in newspapers or on posters or phone boxes at all recently?
Awareness of radio advertising by demographics (Campaign region)
Base: All respondents in campaign region (W2=575)
Q4 Have you heard this or a similar ad on the radio recently?
Prompted reach of advertising summary (Campaign region)
Base: All respondents in campaign region (W2=575)
Q3 and Q4
Total Reach by demographics (Campaign region)
Base: All respondents in campaign region (W2=575)
Q3 and Q4
Crossover of advertising (Campaign region)
Base: All respondents in campaign region (W2=575)
Q3 and Q4
Prompted awareness of the Child Protection Line advertising campaign
- In total, 40% had seen the Child Protection Line poster in the campaign region - significantly higher than in the non-campaign region.
- This was most often seen on telephone boxes (24%)
- Demographic groups most likely to have seen the poster were those in the North region (57%), 16-34s (49%) and those with children (47%)
- Just over half had heard the radio advert (51% in the campaign region and 58% in the non-campaign region)
- This is consistent with the broader distribution of the radio advert
- Demographic groups most likely to have heard the radio ad were those in the West region (63%), the North region (58%) and 16-34s (57%)
- In combination, the total reach of the radio and poster ads was 66% in the campaign region
- This was highest amongst those in the North (77%), and 16-34s (75%)
- 25% had seen the poster ad AND heard the radio ad, 26% had only heard the radio ad and 15% had only seen the poster ad. This indicates that both elements contributed to the reach.
Main message of advertising (Campaign region)
Base: All respondents in campaign region (W2=575)
Q5 What do you think is the main message of this advertising?
Note: Net codes (in pink) include those who said one or any of their component codes (in grey, directly below)
Understanding of the Child Protection Line advertising campaign
- Having been shown the poster ad and heard the radio ad, respondents were asked what they felt the main message of the campaign was.
- Overall, there was a good understanding of the campaign message
- This was most often seen as a call to action (46% in the campaign region), either that you should report child abuse (31%) or that you should call a helpline
- 7% specifically mentioned that you should call the Child Protection Line
- Secondary to this, 29% said you should protect children from child abuse
- 28% said the adverts were raising awareness about child abuse
Likelihood of phoning the Child Protection Line as opposed to another service
Base: All respondents (1,002)
Q7 If you thought a child in your neighbourhood was being neglected or mistreated by its parents and you wanted to report this, how likely would you be to phone the Child Protection Line to do so, rather than any other service?
Likelihood of phoning the Child Protection Line
- Having seen the adverts and heard about the Child Protection Line, respondents were asked how likely they would be the call the Child Protection Line as opposed to another service.
- Of the total sample, 44% would call the Child Protection Line
- The demographic groups most likely to call the Child Protection Line were the 16-34s (52%), those in the West (50%), females (47%) and those who have seen the ads before (47%)
- Those in the campaign region were slightly more likely than those in the non-campaign region to say they would call the Child Protection Line
Agreement that: Everyone has a responsibility to look out for any children in their neighbourhood who might be being neglected or mistreated by their parents.
Base: All respondents in campaign region (W1=577, W2=575) and not in campaign region (W1=390, W2=373) and all seen ads (W2=663) and not seen ads (W2=339)
Q1 I would like you to answer this question yourself. It simply requires you to show how much you agree or disagree with each of the statements shown by clicking on the box which best matches your views.
* Significant difference
Agreement that: Anyone who suspects a child in their neighbourhood is being mistreated by its parents should report it immediately to the authorities.
Base: All respondents in campaign region (W1=577, W2=575) and not in campaign region (W1=390, W2=373) and all seen ads (W2=663) and not seen ads (W2=339)
Q1 I would like you to answer this question yourself. It simply requires you to show how much you agree or disagree with each of the statements shown by clicking on the box which best matches your views.
* Significant difference
Agreement with positive statements
- At the start of the questionnaire, respondents were given several attitude statements and asked whether they agreed or disagreed with them - on a self completion basis.
- There was strong agreement that everyone has a responsibility to look out for any children in their neighbourhood who might be being neglected or mistreated by their parents and that anyone who suspects a child in their neighbourhood is being mistreated by its parents should report it immediately to the authorities.
- Around nine in ten agreed with each (at least six in ten strongly so) indicating that views were strongly held.
- Agreement with the first statement rose significantly between waves in the campaign region and non-campaign region - in terms of mean scores and proportion agreeing strongly
- Agreement with the second statement also rose - although this was only significant for the proportion agreeing strongly in the non-campaign region
- For each statement, those who had seen the ads before were significantly more likely to agree - indicating that the ads played a part in changing opinions over time
Agreement that: Even if I thought a child in my neighbourhood was being mistreated, I wouldn't report it in case I was mistaken or because I might get trouble from the parents.
Base: All respondents in campaign region (W1=577, W2=575) and not in campaign region (W1=390, W2=373) and all seen ads (W2=663) and not seen ads (W2=339)
Q1 I would like you to answer this question yourself. It simply requires you to show how much you agree or disagree with each of the statements shown by clicking on the box which best matches your views.
* Significant difference
Agreement with negative statements
- There was fairly strong disagreement with the statement even if I thought a child in my neighbourhood was being mistreated, I wouldn't report it in case I was mistaken or because I might get trouble from the parents.
- Around two thirds disagreed, at least four in ten strongly so.
- There was no significant change in the mean scores between waves in the campaign region and non-campaign region - in terms of mean scores and proportion agreeing strongly
- At Wave 2, disagreement was stronger in the non-campaign region
- Disagreement was also stronger and between those who had seen the ads as opposed to those who hadn't, indicating that the ads are potentially encouraging people to report abuse if they think it may be happening
Agreement that: How parents in my neighbourhood treat their children is not really my business.
Base: All respondents in campaign region (W1=577, W2=575) and not in campaign region (W1=390, W2=373) and all seen ads (W2=663) and not seen ads (W2=339)
Q1 I would like you to answer this question yourself. It simply requires you to show how much you agree or disagree with each of the statements shown by clicking on the box which best matches your views.
* Significant difference
Agreement with negative statements
- Response was somewhat more polarised for the statement how parents in my neighbourhood treat their children is not really my business.
- Between a half and two thirds disagreed, and between one in five and a third agreed with this statement.
- Between Waves 1 and 2, there was a significant change in the mean scores in the campaign and non-campaign regions - however this was not positive. Significantly more people agreed that how parents in my neighbourhood treat their children is not really my business.
- It should be borne in mind that this statement does not refer to abuse or neglect specifically
- Although the ads communicate that something can be done if a child is being abused, it does not encourage the audience to judge an individual's parenting methods
- Levels of disagreement were higher amongst those who saw the poster ads (61%) than those who heard the radio ads (54%)