Family Needs Checklist: Development of a Mobile Application for Parents with Children to Assess the Risk for Child Maltreatment

Child maltreatment (CM) has been enormously studied. However, a preventive practice still requires comprehensive and effective instruments to assess the risks for CM in a family context. The aim of this study is to describe the development process of an evidence-based CM risk assessment instrument (Family Needs Checklist, FNC) for primary prevention online utilization. This article reports the development process of the checklist and its mobile application, consisting of a systematic literature review, identification of known risk factors using the content analysis method, and generation of the checklist, including a multidisciplinary group in the design and feedback. As a result, a comprehensive and compact checklist was developed to be used by parents or caregivers as a self-referral instrument with an option to be used with professionals as a basis for joint conversations. The FNC consists of parental, family-, and child-related risk factors. Based on the international evidence, the online application consists of knowledge about different CM types, information about risk factors and protective factors as well as recommendations and guidance to support services. The FNC is based on robust evidence on known risk factors causing CM in families. It can be used for primary prevention utilization in the general population.

Childhood experiences of female family-violence perpetrators

PURPOSE

To explore the childhood experiences of women who have perpetrated family-violence and voluntarily sought help.

DESIGN AND METHODS

The qualitative design includes in-depth, unstructured individual interviews with 19 women who have perpetrated family-violence.

FINDINGS

The categories of maltreatment exposure, parental capability, and a role of the sensitive, good girl are identified and described in this article.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

The findings provide guidance for nurses who encounter families at risk of female family-violence perpetration and for those developing preventive interventions for female family-violence perpetrators whose family-of-origin issues are essential in processing issues of self.