‘Rosie 2’ A Child Protection Simulation: Perspectives on Neglect and the ‘Unconscious At Work’

Abstract

Neglect is the most common category for abuse of children under one. It is prevalent in large families; where there is a mother with low self‐esteem and frequent changes of partner. Because neglect is difficult to work with, the Centre for Child Protection at the University of Kent has developed a child protection simulation – ‘Rosie 2’ – which is designed to train child protection professionals. It follows a social worker and health visitor on a virtual home visit to a family where neglect is a significant concern, and offers a safe opportunity to explore practice options. A small‐scale research project has been conducted whereby highly sensitive eye tracker technology and facial recognition software were used to examine the emotional responses exhibited by social workers and health visitors during this ‘virtual visit’. The results indicate that the prevailing emotion exhibited by the professional group showed a ‘neutral’ response. There were significant differences between the groups, with health visitors displaying more sadness, and social workers demonstrating greater surprise and disgust. The article discusses these findings in the context of debates on compassion fatigue and emotional response within child protection. We conclude by discussing how the findings can enhance professionals' supervision. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Key Practitioner Messages Neglect is a chronic problem in some families and can have long‐term effects on practitioners including burnout, compassion fatigue and secondary trauma. Simulations can provide immersive, realistic environments for child protection training and ‘Rosie 2’ has been developed for this purpose. Eye tracker technology coupled with simulations can provide insight into the unconscious emotional impact on practitioners of child protection work. This can potentially support and inform supervision.

Health visiting and safeguarding children: A perfect storm?

“…Existing research evidence on the health visiting role in safeguarding and protecting children largely derives from small scale qualitative studies (Appleton and Cowley, 2008;Selbie, 2009;Burchill, 2011;Taylor et al, 2013;Bradbury-Jones et al, 2015;Taylor et al, 2017;Rooke, 2015) and literature reviews (Litherland, 2012;Botham 2013;Akehurst, 2015;Perryman and Appleton, 2016). We also found evidence generated from larger studies that included health visitors alongside other professionals concerned with safeguarding and protecting children (Whiting, Scammell and Bifulco, 2008;Fifield and Blake, 2011;Reeves et al, 2015;Whittaker et al, 2016;Luckock et al, 2017).…”

“…These have focused upon integrated models of practice which enable health visitors to work alongside other safeguarding professionals, most notably children's social workers (Whiting et al,, 2008;Fifield and Blake, 2011;Luckock et al, 2017). There has also been research examining joint training initiatives that address health visiting and social work practice in relation to child neglect (Reeves et al, 2015). Evidence from these studies suggest that working and learning together has benefits for safeguarding practice including improved communication and assessment, and better understanding of different professionals' roles and supports the acquisition of more specialist knowledge.…”

Clinical Supervision in Child Protection Practice: A Review of the Literature

“…The clinical supervisor considers a broader range of hypotheses, projects the analyses of these hypotheses into the future, and pursues a more methodical, sequential analysis, instead of confirming the intuitive decisions of the practitioners (Saltiel, 2017). Further, the supervisor ensures that information is not withheld by supervisees (Roberts, Roberts, Harrington, Vudy, & Krumenacker, 2016) and also that supervisees critically reflect on their understanding of families, considering whether their emotional response adversely affects their reasoning and decisions (Dempsey & Halton, 2017; Reeves, Drew, Shemmings, & Ferguson, 2015). Addressing the emotional impact of practice is believed to limit uncertainty and reduce anxiety.…”

Serious Games

“…In particular, games dealing with sensitive topics, such as child neglect and unhealthy relationship behaviour do not often reach a large audience. Rosie 2 [7] is a 2D child protection simulation created by the University of Kent, designed to assist health visitors and social workers with recognising the signs of child neglect. Rosie 2 is structured into multiple scenes, with players engaging in conversations with the family members and children concerned.…”