Child protection in Sweden: are routine assessments reliable?
The findings are rather discouraging, as they challenge the belief that a report is a means of ensuring that maltreatment does not continue. The study shows that, depending upon the way in which the initial assessments are made, maltreated children may run a risk of not being identified, even though the maltreatment has been reported. This suggests that there may be a need for national guidelines concerning the reporting of maltreatment.
The results obtained for new patients are similar to those of two recent randomised controlled trials on DOT. This study revealed that for new patients, undue emphasis on universal DOT might be unnecessary. It would perhaps be more beneficial to target supervision at those patients who are most likely to benefit from it (i.e., re-treatment patients). This is of particular relevance in high burden, resource-limited settings where universal DOT for all TB patients is generally unfeasible.