Knowledge guides

LG13: Social paediatrics

Epidemiology, pathophysiology, and clinical sciences

Advanced Trainees will have in-depth knowledge of the topics listed under each clinical sciences heading.

For the concepts listed, trainees should be able to describe the underlying impact on child health and wellbeing.

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Investigations, procedures, and clinical assessment tools

Advanced Trainees will know the scientific foundation of each investigation and procedure, including relevant anatomy and physiology. They will be able to interpret the reported results of each investigation or procedure.

Advanced Trainees will know how to explain the investigation or procedure to patients, families, and carers, and be able to explain procedural risk and obtain informed consent where applicable

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Important specific issues

Advanced Trainees will identify important specialty-specific issues and the impact of these on diagnosis and management and integrate these into care.

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  • Adverse childhood experiences and early life trauma, and the long-term impact of violence, abuse, and neglect
  • Approach to child health that focuses on the child, in illness and health, within the context of their society, environment, school, family, and community
  • Aspects of cultural practices and beliefs which may affect understanding of health, interactions with healthcare and management choices
  • Awareness of behavioural modification techniques in children, adolescents, and young adults
  • Awareness of personal reactions to childhood illness, behaviour, disability, and family situations, and the impact these may have on professional practice
  • Challenges to the psychosocial development of children in blended families, including those from LGBTQIA+ families
  • Child and adolescent education access
  • Common social stresses on families living:
    • in rural and remote areas
    • in urban areas
  • Cultural and psychosocial needs of complex patients and their families being discharged from hospital
  • Effect of political and social bias and violence towards priority groups, including the impact of those factors on their health and wellbeing needs
  • Effect of stigmatisation and discrimination on children and families who are in some way different from their community
  • Health and wellbeing needs of children, families and communities across multiple cultural domains, such as:
    • disability
    • ethnicity
    • gender
    • indigenous status
    • religious or spiritual belief
    • sexual orientation
    • socioeconomic status
  • Health and wellbeing of priority populations, such as:
    • children in the care of child protection service, such as:
      • children in out of home care
      • gateway clinics
      • homeless youth (children/youth on the street)
      • juvenile justice
    • living in regional or rural areas
    • refugee, asylum seeker, and migrant families
  • Impact on children and families who experience adverse events, such as:
    • domestic violence
    • family dysfunction
    • housing instability
    • parental mental health issue
    • parental substance use
  • Influence of poverty and financial insecurity on the epidemiology of developmental and behavioural disorders
  • Influence of religious affiliation and values on children and families
  • Integration of the physical, mental, and social dimensions of child health and development as well as care, prevention, and promotion of health and quality of life
  • Issues related to adoption
  • Physiological, social, and psychological factors influencing child development
  • Problems and benefits pertaining to child behaviour and development of multigenerational households
  • Prolonging life and promoting health through organised efforts of society, as well as the understanding of child’s rights
  • Providing a local, national, and global approach to child health within priority populations, such as the ability to understand concerns with the child’s health at an individual level as well as within the population
  • Socioeconomic, cultural, gender, and geographical barriers to health care and the impact this has on priority groups
  • Special challenges to children's development and behaviour of parenting without a partner because of choice, death, divorce or incarceration
  • Ways of advocating for priority populations
  • ACES/SD Tools/Resilience Tools
  • Assessment of mental health
  • Comprehensive psychosocial assessment with social work, when available
  • Developmental and behavioural tools for assessment or screening
  • Examination:
    • growth
    • holistic and attachment observation
  • HEAADSSS assessments
  • Interagency approach to clinical assessment – education, statutory bodies, NGOs, other health, and support agencies
  • Availability of services in outreach communities
  • Awareness of personal reactions to childhood illness, behaviour, disability, and family situations and the impact these may have on professional practice
  • Biological, physical, and psychosocial elements of infant feeding
  • Child rights
  • Community child health in context of broader community
  • Conditions under which people live in outreach communities
  • Conditions under which practitioners practise in outreach communities
  • Culturally informed care
  • Cumulative risks for children with disability, underrepresented group membership, poverty, and social isolation
  • Effective prevention for child maltreatment
  • Effects on children of being a witness, victim, or perpetrator of violence
  • Enablers and barriers to obtaining information in child maltreatment situations
  • Health needs of outreach communities
  • Impact of parental intellectual ability and educational attainment on child development and behaviour
  • Impact of psychosocial issues on parenting behaviours
  • Impact of vicarious trauma on clinician wellbeing
  • Implications of attachment difficulties, particularly for those in care or adopted
  • Influences of media exposure on child development and behaviour
  • Methods involved in developing a differential diagnosis for maltreatment victims
  • National, state and local public health policy and legislation affecting health and wellbeing of infants, children and young people
  • Parenting style and behaviour management resources available to parents
  • Parent or caregiver involvement in shared decision making
  • Peer review processes and support
  • Pre-school and school structures
  • Pre-school, school and education processes for infants, children, and young people with developmental delays/disabilities
  • Principles of advocating for children
  • Principles underpinning national, state, and local policies and procedures related to child protection
  • Psychosocial impacts of child health:
    • bullying
    • maternal-infant dyad
    • social media
  • Range of parenting styles, taking into account psychosocial and cultural variations
  • Role of counsellors, social workers psychologists and other allied health professionals
  • Role of courts involved in the criminal justice system
  • Role of courts responsible for child protection, family law, and relevant courts of appeal
  • Role of the paediatric medical expert in writing medicolegal reports, contributing to case conferences, and testifying in court in cases of child maltreatment
  • The impact of bias
  • The importance of connection to community, and that of the land, sea, and sky
  • The importance of delivery of health services within individual communities
  • The importance of Te Tiriti o Waitangi
  • The importance of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
  • Trauma-informed care
  • Varying capabilities of parents and limitations of their parenting skills