Participant responses to retrospective surveys of child maltreatment: does mode of assessment matter?

This study examines the impact that different methods of assessing child maltreatment history may have on adult participants. A total of 334 female undergraduate students were randomly assigned to complete a retrospective measure of child sexual and physical abuse in one of three conditions: paper-and-pencil questionnaire, face-to-face interview, or computer-administered survey. Disclosure rates of abuse, psychological distress and mood change, preferences for assessment format, and perceptions of confidentiality were examined across the three assessment formats. Although disclosure did not vary by condition, participants with a history of abuse reported more distress and mood change than did nonvictims, particularly in the computer condition. Nevertheless, the computer condition was rated as the most preferred format and was viewed by participants as the most confidential means of assessing maltreatment history. Participants reporting abuse through interviews were more likely than those in other conditions to state a preference for another type of assessment format. The implications of these findings for abuse history research are discussed.     

Feasibility and acceptability of a child sexual abuse prevention program for childcare professionals: comparison of a web-based and in-person training

Recent prevention research has established the efficacy of some child sexual abuse prevention programs targeting adults; however, less is known about the feasibility of implementing such programs. The current study examines the feasibility and acceptability of a child sexual abuse prevention program for child care professionals provided in two different formats: in person and Web based. The sample consisted of 188 child care professionals from a large-scale, multisite, randomized controlled trial. Findings indicate that both in-person and online training formats are feasible to implement and acceptable to professionals. When comparing formats, the in-person format was favored in terms of comfort level and likelihood of sharing information with others. These findings have significant implications for dissemination of child sexual abuse prevention programs for child care professionals.     

Pregnant and Postpartum Adolescents' Perceptions of the Consequences of Child Abuse

A study of 263 pregnant and postpartum indigent and minority teens was conducted in order to examine their perceptions of the consequences of child abuse and their own child abuse history. Teens identified drug and alcohol abuse and teen suicide as the most serious consequences of abuse. Interestingly, they did not identify pregnancy as a consequence. Twenty-seven percent reported a history of abuse. Identifying behavioral and emotional consequences of abuse is important because it affects both the well-being of the adolescent mother and her child. An experience of abuse and its behavioral consequences may interfere with a teen's ability to benefit from parenting intervention programs. Therefore, parenting programs may wish to consider the necessity of screening for a history of abuse as well as adding components on behavioral problems adolescent mothers are concerned about. Additionally, there is a need to reach out to pregnant, parenting and future parents in other settings such as prisons, psychiatric, and residential centers, since issues of abuse may coexist with other behaviors.     

Health Care and Female Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse: Health Professionals' Perspectives

The present study explored health professionals' experiences with adult survivors of child sexual abuse in New Zealand. Face-to-face, semistructured interviews of up to an hour took place with 13 health professionals. The participants were asked about training, screening practices, their response to disclosures, and advice to other health professionals. A model—transition to ethical practice—emerged from the data, where delivering more sensitive health care to child sexual abuse survivors sits on a continuum from lack of awareness of child sexual abuse to delivery of care where all patients are comfortable. We recommend making sensitive care for all as the standard care of practice and providing training for health professionals on how to deal with disclosures.     

Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse by Targeting Pre-Offenders Before First Offense

The population of potential child abuse offenders has largely been unstudied. In the current study, we examine whether a six-component model used for primary diabetes prevention could be adapted to child sexual abuse pre-offenders, whereby individuals who are prone to sexual abuse but have not yet committed an offense can be prevented from committing a first offense. The six components include: define and track the magnitude of the problem, delineate a well-established risk factor profile so that at-risk persons can be identified, define valid screening tests to correctly rule in those with the disease and rule out those without disease, test effectiveness of interventions—the Dunkelfeld Project is an example, produce and disseminate reliable outcome data so that widespread application can be justified, and establish a system for continuous improvement. By using the diabetes primary prevention model as a model, the number of victims of child sexual abuse might be diminished.     

What women talk about. Sexuality issues of chemically dependent women

1. In group discussions on sexuality, the topics discussed most often by recovering chemically dependent women were incest and sexual child abuse; rape; sex while sober; values regarding sex; battering; women's health concerns; and coping strategies. 2. Addressing sexuality in an unstructured format allows the women time to deal with these issues as they are able, since strong emotions are evoked. 3. The group leader needs to be knowledgeable about sexuality and be comfortable with explicit sexual and abuse talk.     

The Role of Psychological Instruments in the Assessment of Child Sexual Abuse

Psychological instruments such as behavioural rating scales or psychometric tests have a useful part to play in the evaluation of child sexual abuse, not as screening (i.e. ‘diagnostic’) devices but primarily as adjuncts to the assessment interview. However, the use of formal psychological instruments in their own right (i.e. on their own) for such purposes is, as yet, very limited and problematic. In their strictly adjunctive role they may provide additional evidence and/or indicate areas for further investigation, without directly questioning the child about the abuse and without being intrusive and leading. Finally, they may help us to assess and measure psychological processes that are influenced by, and thus secondary to, sexual abuse. This paper seeks to review the different types of psychological instruments and to comment on their clinical and their research usage.     

A Standard of Care for the Prevention of Sexual Misconduct by School Employees

ABSTRACT

This article describes the development of a standard of care for the prevention of adult to student sexual abuse in pre K-12 schools. Standard of care is not a phrase often used in educational practice, and yet, it is a legal concept that may be useful for school administrators. A sample of administrators, child sexual abuse specialists, and attorneys with experience in school employee sexual misconduct responded to 101 items that the literature indicates should be included in a standard of care. There was agreement on 94 of these items by sample participants. Categories of the standard of care were policies, hiring process, hiring screening, hiring interview, training, and reporting. Where there was disagreement by role of respondent, attorneys, child sexual abuse specialists, or both rated the item as more important for inclusion than did administrators.     

Can child fatalities,end product of child abuse,be prevented?

Study of a sample of child abuse/neglect families where a child fatality has occurred suggests several indicators for identifying potential child fatalities. In contrast to families where child abuse is not followed by a child fatality, child abuse cases where a fatality does occur are characterized by abuse of more than one child in the family, a more chaotic family constellation, the mother as perpetrator of the abuse, and high levels of both human and milieu stress. The study also identifies gaps in services to sample families and suggests changes.     

A Short Psychosocial History of British Child Abuse and Protection: Case Studies in Problems of Mourning in the Public Sphere

This paper offers a historical and psychosocial account of ‘moral panics’ about child maltreatment in England over the last four decades, and proposes this perspective as additional to Munro's more systemic account of the same history. The formal child protection system is theorised in terms of an explicit and a covert dual primary task. The overt task is to actually protect vulnerable children and prevent abuse; the covert task is to protect the remainder of society from exposure to anxiety provoking ‘dangerous knowledge’ about the prevalence of child maltreatment. Episodes of public and political moral panic occur when the boundaries of containment provided by the official system and its processes are breached, propelling debate and contestation about child maltreatment into the public sphere, where public enquiries and other social mechanisms are called upon to ‘settle’ the contested issues. Sometimes these social settlements appear to be successful in resolving conflicts about the reality or otherwise of specific forms of abuse; in other cases, especially child deaths, the controversial and anxiety-laden nature of the problem is recurrently projected back into the public domain. The paper suggests that this may be associated with a difficulty about establishing a secure symbolic framework or discourse in society for the emotionally indigestible facts of child torture and murder. In turn, this may be associated with problems about the decline of public mourning rituals and the failure of the public enquiry format to facilitate this. In line with Munro, the paper argues for the importance of a tragic perspective on child maltreatment, to counter idealisations of the capacity of the formal system to protect children.     

Risk factors and physical signs of child abuse in hospitalized children in Taiwan

PurposeThis study used the Criteria for Distinguishing Abuse from Accidents Chinese version (CDAA-C) to determine cases of child abuse, undetermined intent, and unintentional injury, and compared risk factors and injury profiles among hospitalized children in Taiwan.DesignA retrospective chart review study.MethodsWe selected children aged 0–3 who were hospitalized with a discharge diagnosis of injury or child maltreatment in a medical center in southern Taiwan between 2007 and 2009. The CDAA-C was used to collect children's demographics and injury types and to determine the intent of injury. Children's charts with records and notes of admission, surgery and emergency care were reviewed and analyzed.ResultsAmong 157 eligible cases, the CDAA-C identified 13 child abuse cases including additional 8 victims who were not previously coded in ICD-9-CM. Most abused children suffered from brain injuries, had ≥ 2 in jury incidents, and had a misdiagnosis in the previous visit. Abused children were younger and more likely to be born premature.ConclusionsThis study highlighted the under-diagnosis of child abuse in Taiwan. An easy-to-use standardized screening tool for child abuse in Taiwan is needed.     

Pornography and the Organization of Intrafamilial and Extrafamilial Child Sexual Abuse: Developing a Conceptual Model

This paper uses a case study (the experience of having been sexually abused as a child) and a review of the relevant literature as the basis for developing a conceptual model of the relationship between intrafamilial and extrafamilial child sexual abuse and child sexual exploitation, and the role of adult and child pornography in it. The paper illustrates some of the characteristics and effects of pornography and child sexual abuse including: gender; intra- and intergenerational patterns of victimization; coercion and compliance; the sexualization of the child; pornography and prostitution; and the function of incest as a form of pimping for the perpetrator and as grooming for extrafamilial abuse. It also illustrates the way in which pornography is a part of all forms of intrafamilial and extrafamilial abuse and is itself a form of organized abuse. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Child deaths attributed to abuse and neglect: An empirical study

This study of 267 child deaths associated with abuse or neglect in Texas during 1975 through 1977 suggests a number of indicators for identifying potential child fatalities. Families where abuse or neglect is implicated in a child fatality are characterized by small family size, young parents, and under-utilization of community support services. Over three-fourths of the families in the study had never come to the attention of the state's child protective services agency. In addition, when fathers were present in the home, they were as likely to be involved in the abuse or neglect as mothers. Neglect was implicated in the death of a child as often as abuse. The study suggests the need for further examination of child fatality profiles associated with abuse and neglect and increased community outreach efforts to provide support to high-risk families, The study also has implications for social policy decisions, particularly in relation to efforts to resist attempts to exclude neglect from child protective service responsibility.     

Experiences of Mothers Who Are Child Sexual Abuse Survivors: A Qualitative Exploration

Child sexual abuse has been associated with a number of problems affecting women over their lifespan, including difficulties with parenting. However, there is a modest number of qualitative studies examining the impact of child sexual abuse on survivors who are mothers. There is a particular need for qualitative investigations that ask survivors who are mothers general questions about the impact of child sexual abuse on their lives rather than those that specifically ask about the impact of child sexual abuse on parenting. The former approach would allow survivors to describe effects that may impact parenting but that survivors do not consciously link to affecting their parenting. Such information may inform interventions to assist this population of survivors. This secondary data analysis examined themes revealed in interviews with 44 survivors of child sexual abuse who were mothers. Participants were seeking treatment for their child sexual abuse and completed an in-person interview in which they were asked open-ended questions about the sexual abuse they experienced as a child and how their abuse affects them now as adults. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and coded using thematic analysis. The following six themes emerged from the narratives: (a) being a parent, (b) family of origin dysfunction, (c) the impact of abuse, (d) the abuse history and response to abuse, (e) coping, and (f) hopes and desires for the future. This study highlights several ways in which child sexual abuse impacts survivors who are mothers, areas for further study, and the need for interventions to assist this population in meeting the challenges they face as mothers.     

Teachers’ Knowledge and Beliefs About Child Sexual Abuse

Child sexual abuse is one of the main types of abuse still to be addressed within the field of education, yet the education system itself can serve as a primary tool for its prevention. A better understanding of teachers’ knowledge and beliefs about child sexual abuse will allow us to establish key starting points from which to utilize the system for prevention. Four hundred and fifty teachers participated in this study, completing a questionnaire regarding their knowledge and beliefs about child sexual abuse. The study revealed that over half the teachers, 65.3% (n = 294), had never received any type of training in child sexual abuse education and that the majority were not familiar with methods of identifying child sexual abuse, 90.7% (n = 279). Various mistaken beliefs were identified among the participating teachers, such as pathological profiles of abusers, that the vast majority of child sexual abuse implies violent behavior, and that there cannot be abusers the same age as the victim. These results indicate that knowledge deficiencies do exist about child sexual abuse among teachers and highlight the need for training in this field.     

西方儿童虐待成因的发展生态模型理论研究述评

发展生态模型是西方儿童虐待成因研究的重要理论框架,但国内对此缺少系统性介绍。该理论认为,儿童虐待产生自互动个体与嵌套生态系统层面间的交互影响,它主要以生态系统理论为理论基础,并以“生态整合模型”和“生态交互模型”为代表性理论模型。该理论具有重要的方法论意义,它可促使研究者突破单因素变量研究的窠臼,并转向多因素共构视角去理解儿童虐待成因;同时,也为儿童虐待治理实践提供了多因素和多层次的系统干预视角。该理论的出现丰富了儿童虐待研究者的理论想象力,可为我国家庭、学校等场域的儿童虐待和儿童保护研究和干预提供启示。