The child protection multidisciplinary training programme

The child protection multidisciplinary training, which is the main focus of this research, is part of a series of courses that are offered annually by the NFSP in collaboration with other agencies. The first two courses were delivered in Riyadh, in the central region of Saudi Arabia. These were followed by courses in Jeddah, Dhahran, Qassim, Najran, Abha, Tabuk (2013), Gizan (2014), and Riyadh (2015) (Table 3.1). The original multidisciplinary training programme on the prevention of child abuse and neglect was developed by the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN). The NFSP translated and customized it according to the culture, religion, and systems of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The NFSP has an ongoing partnership with ISPCAN.
Table 3.4 Multidisciplinary child protection training since 2008 in different regions of KSA
The Training    Location
2008    Riyadh
2008     Jeddah
2008    Dhahran
2009    Qassim
2010    Jeddah
2011    Najran
2012    Abha
2013    Tabuk
2014    Gizan
2015    Riyadh
The programme consists of four teaching modules combined with workshops, and a pre- and post-training survey. The first module relates to child maltreatment, with a workshop on the detection of different types of child abuse and neglect. Assessment and interventions form the focus of the second module. The third module considers the basic guidelines in working with child abuse and neglect cases. Its workshop promotes child protection multidisciplinary team working and formulation of reports. The final module addresses the establishment of prevention strategies across different levels of the healthcare and welfare systems (Table 3.2).
The National Family Safety programme includes an evaluation component based on the distribution of questionnaires to the participants. This evaluation includes two surveys (pre- and post-training), which measure the level of knowledge on child maltreatment immediately before and after the training (see Appendix 1, pre/post-training survey in Arabic and translated to English). Between 2011 and 2013, the participants’ knowledge ratings appeared to increase after the training. It showed that, following the 2011 training in the Najran region, the percentage of the participants’ knowledge that was deemed as essential increased from around 50% before the training to nearly 70%. Similarly, the training which was conducted in the Abha region in 2012 was associated with respective changes from 54.6% to 75%; whilst  the training in Tabuk in 2013 was associated with even more marked changes from around 37% to nearly 60%, as illustrated by Figure 3.4. The limited depth and validation of these encouraging findings highlighted the need for this qualitative research.