PHNs who had met maltreated children or who had
participated in training on child maltreatment were able
to identify maltreatment and they intervened in it better
than those who had not met such children or participated
in such training. Earlier studies have also gained similar
results. According to Paavilainen et al. [24], nurses who have
participated in training or who have met maltreated children
find identification and intervention even more difficult than
nurses who have not encountered these issues at all. Based
on this, it is possible that nurses who have explored the issue
and acted on it have a more profound understanding of how
difficult and complex the issue is. Also, when asking about
these difficult issues with a cross-sectional design as we did
in our study, using a self-reported questionnaire might also
be a limitation. However, it seems that PHNs did not over
estimate their capability in identifying or intervening and
many developmental challenges can be presented based on
the results.