Family doctors should be playing a more central role in preventing bullying among children and dating violence among teenagers, says the American Academy of Pediatrics. 

In a policy paper published in their journal Pediatrics, the Academy’s violence prevention committee urges doctors to teach parents to talk to their children about such issues, and to teach children how to resolve conflict.

It also argues that doctors should take more responsibility in the community, by volunteering to talk to schools, churches and youth groups.  

Founded in 1930, the AAP represents more than 60,000 doctors from the US, Mexico and across the Americas who work for the physical, mental and social well-being of children and young people.  

“Violence is a public health problem that needs to be dealt with in the context of health care,” explains Joseph Wright of the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, who heads the violence prevention committee. 

The report stresses that in addition to their traditional role in treating the effects of violence, doctors should be taking the lead in prevention efforts. Doctors enjoy a unique position of trust and have regular access to children and their parents. 

Studies suggest children's early home life, if stimulating and emotionally supportive, can protect them from being victims of bullying later in life. “Having meals with your child, watching television with your child” are some of the simple recommendations that doctors can share with parents at “every single visit between birth and age 21,” Wright says. 

The AAP statement is a testimonial for their own program, Connected Kids, which comes with a clinical guide for doctors, including developmentally appropriate advice on a series of topics including bullying, discipline, interpersonal skills, parenting and television violence, as well as  a series of handouts for parents and children. 

Put together by an expert committee, and said to have shown promising results in implementation, the program is yet to have been formally evaluated. More outcome-focused research is needed to establish whether the framework is an effective way to integrate family doctors into prevention efforts. 

As well as encouraging positive parenting in the early years, the AAP policy statement backs evidence-based initiatives, singling out the Norwegian-designed Olweus bullying prevention program for praise, while calling for more rigorous evaluation of the initiative in the US. The AAP say that doctors should be taking an active role in promoting evidence-based initiatives,

Active participation in research is also advocated. The policy statement recommends that doctors participate in practice-based research in the area of violence prevention, as well as contributing to existing monitoring systems. 

See: Committee on Injury, Violence and Poison Prevention (2009) “Policy Statement - Role of the Pediatrician in Youth Violence Prevention,” Pediatrics, 124, 1, 393-402

Sege R D, Flanigan E, Levin Goodman R, Licenziato V G, De Vos E and Spivak H (2005), “American Academy of Pediatrics’ Connected Kids Program: Case Study,”, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 29, 5, 215-219.