Child maltreatment training in doctoral programs in clinical, counseling, and school psychology: where do we go from here?

Responding to Basic and Complex Cases of Child Abuse: a Comparison Study of Recent and Current Child Advocacy Studies (CAST) Students with DSS Workers in the Field

In an effort to improve the training of future child protection professionals, more than 70 universities and graduate schools in the United States have implemented Child Advocacy Studies (CAST) minors or graduate programs. In order to assess the efficacy of these programs, 46 current and recent graduates of a CAST minor and 43 child protection professionals currently employed by a Department of Social Services (DSS) were given two vignettes. The first vignette involved a clear case of sexual abuse and the second vignette involved a more complex case involving polyvictimization. The students were asked to identify various systems that needed to be involved, potential corroborating evidence, risk and protective factors, and types of victimization. In the case of sexual abuse, the current CAST students and CAST graduates performed at the same level as DSS caseworkers. On the more complex polyvictimization scenario, the current CAST students and CAST graduates performed significantly better than all levels of DSS caseworkers in identifying systems that respond to child maltreatment and in identifying psychological and emotional abuse. The results of this study suggests that undergraduate CAST minors may be an effective model for improving the knowledge and skills of future child protection professionals in responding to complex cases of maltreatment.

Training Mental Health Professionals in Child Sexual Abuse: Curricular Guidelines

Given the incidence of child sexual abuse in the United States, mental health professionals need training to detect, assess, and treat victims and should possess a clear understanding of the process of victimization. However, many mental health professionals who work with children and families have not been exposed to any training in child sexual abuse during their formal education. This article will examine the need for such training, suggest critical components of child sexual abuse training, and describe various methods of training (e.g., in person, Web-based, and community resources).

Child maltreatment: a survey of dentists in southern Brazil

Child abuse is a serious public health problem and affects the victims' physical and mental health and development. The aims of this study were two-fold: to assess the attitudes and perceptions of dentists regarding child abuse, and to investigate professional characteristics associated with the identification of suspected child abuse. A questionnaire was sent to the 276 dentists of Pelotas, RS, Brazil, and 187 (68.0%) were returned. Demographic characteristics and profiles of the dentists, and information about their knowledge and attitudes regarding child abuse were collected. Descriptive analysis was performed, and associations were tested by chi-square and Fisher's exact tests. From all dentists surveyed, 123 (71.9%) reported providing treatment for children. Most dentists believed they could detect cases of child abuse (78.7%), but 85.7% had never suspected it. Among those who did suspect, 76.0% did not report the cases to authorities. No differences were observed between sexes, years of graduation, types of licenses, and the frequency at which children were treated. A higher proportion of dentists working at university had suspected child abuse. Even though dentists considered themselves able to identify suspicious cases, only a small percentage reported those suspicions, indicating a lack of awareness by these professionals in the adoption of protective measures for victims of aggression. It is necessary that dental professionals receive interdisciplinary training to enhance their ability to care for and protect children.

Training competent psychologists in the field of child maltreatment

Child maltreatment is a serious threat to children's physical and psychological well-being; therefore, it is critically important to develop high-quality educational programs to train psychologists in effectively addressing child abuse and neglect. Various health care disciplines and areas within the field of psychology have established competencies as a guide for student training curricula; however, none have been established for the area of child maltreatment. The present article presents training competencies for the field of child maltreatment that have been developed from a program designed to train psychology graduate students to practice and conduct research in child maltreatment. The competencies have been divided into eight core areas including assessment, treatment, multidisciplinary collaboration, advocacy, ethics, research, research ethics, and professional development.

Development and preliminary evaluation of a training method to assist professionals in reporting suspected child maltreatment

The understudied process of reporting suspected child maltreatment to authorities is often difficult for both mental health professionals and family members who are intimately involved. Therefore, the current study was conducted to develop a training curriculum to assist professionals in reporting suspected child maltreatment. Fifty-five professional and student mental health practitioners were randomly assigned to workshop conditions that were relevant to either (a) reporting suspected child maltreatment or (b) learning to be sensitive to ethnicity. Results indicated participants in the reporting suspected child maltreatment condition demonstrated significant improvement in knowledge of child maltreatment reporting laws, accuracy in recognizing child maltreatment, and clinical expertise in reporting. Implications to clinical practice are discussed in light of the results.

Web-based training in child maltreatment for future mandated reporters

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of providing Web-based information about child maltreatment to undergraduate education and graduate counseling students. The goal was to determine, via an objective test, whether students would gain information about abuse signs and symptoms and reporting laws.

METHODS

One hundred and five education and counseling students enrolled in a large, urban, ethnically diverse, university participated in the Web-based training tutorial. Their participation was part of their course requirements. They logged into the Web site using their university identification number and password. The pre and post-tests could only be taken once. Completion of the tutorial took on average 1 hour.

RESULTS

Findings indicated that students' post-test scores were significantly higher than pretest scores on an examination measuring knowledge of child maltreatment signs, symptoms, and reporting procedures. Participants rated their knowledge of child maltreatment significantly higher after taking the tutorial and reported enjoying the self-paced learning of the Web format.

CONCLUSION

Overall, this study demonstrated the effectiveness of a brief on-line tutorial to disseminate information related to child abuse identification and reporting to future mandated reporters. In approximately 1 hour of on line training, participants gained an increase in knowledge of reporting procedures. Utilization of Web-based training is proposed as an effective and convenient method of instruction particularly for child abuse issues.