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Abstract: Objective: This article describes the work carried out to develop a new instrument/set of criteria aimed at increasing Spanish Child Protection Services (CPS) caseworkers'' accuracy and consistency in judgments leading to maltreatment substantiation and eligibility for CPS action decisions. A preliminary test on some of the instrument scales was conducted and presented. Method: The new instrument was developed based upon a review of the literature, extended discussions with an expert group, and a three-month pilot application. Studies conducted on the instrument used case vignettes and focused on four scales: Physical Abuse, Supervisory Neglect, Emotional Maltreatment, and Parental Incapacity to Control Child/Adolescent Behavior. Three groups of the Basque Region CPS caseworkers participated in the studies: a first group of 515 caseworkers who attended a five-hour session for a general overview of the instrument, and a second and third groups of 137 and 94 caseworkers who attended, respectively, ten- and twenty-hour training sessions about the instrument. A booklet containing four case vignettes was given to each participant. Caseworkers of the first group were asked to rate severity of the assigned case vignettes firstly before the general overview session with their prior criteria, and secondly after the session with the instrument. Caseworkers of the second and third groups were asked to rate the assigned case vignettes after the training sessions with the instrument. Results: When caseworkers used their prior criteria to rate case vignettes severity, only 20% of them accurately rated all four, or three out of the four, assigned vignettes. This percentage increased significantly to 44.9% after receiving a 5-hour general overview session of the instrument, approaching the percentage achieved by the caseworkers who received 10h of training (45.5%). The highest percentage of caseworkers who accurately rated all four, or three out of the four, assigned vignettes was found in the group that received 20h of training (61.7%). The instrument did not allow caseworkers to reach adequate percentages of accurate ratings or inter-worker agreement in most of the case vignettes with moderate levels of severity and in emotional maltreatment vignettes. No significant relationships were found between accuracy of severity ratings and caseworkers'' professional discipline, gender, degree of dedication to CPS, and years of experience. Conclusions and implications for practice Present findings suggest high levels of inaccuracy and inconsistency in Basque Region CPS caseworkers'' assessment of child maltreatment severity. Results support the hypothesis that availability of specific instruments and intensive professional training can contribute to increase accuracy and consistency, and improve substantiation in decision-making processes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objective: The present study was designed to determine whether parents at high risk for physical child abuse, in comparison with parents at low risk, show deficits in emotion recognition, as well as to examine the moderator effect of gender and stress on the relationship between risk for physical child abuse and emotion recognition. Methods: Based on their scores on the Abuse Scale of the CAP Inventory (), 64 parents at high risk (24 fathers and 40 mothers) and 80 parents at low risk (40 fathers and 40 mothers) for physical child abuse were selected. The Subtle Expression Training Tool/Micro Expression Training Tool () and the Diagnostic Analysis of Nonverbal Accuracy II () were used to assess emotion recognition. Results: As expected, parents at high risk, in contrast to parents at low risk, showed deficits in emotion recognition. However, differences between high- and low-risk participants were observed only for fathers, but not for mothers. Whereas fathers at high risk for physical child abuse made more errors than mothers at high risk, no differences between mothers at low risk and fathers at low risk were found. No interaction between stress, gender, and risk status was observed for errors in emotion recognition. Conclusions and practice implications: The present findings, if confirmed with physical abusers, could be helpful to further our understanding of deficits in processing information of physically abusive parents and to develop treatment strategies specifically focused on emotion recognition. Moreover, if gender differences can be confirmed, the findings could be helpful to develop specific treatment programs for abusive fathers. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article cites a study aimed to know social representations about child maltreatment of the general population and the professionals working with children in the Caribbean area of Colombia. Findings of the study showed that sexual abuse is considered as the most severe typology of child maltreatment, and emotional abuse is considered as more severe than physical abuse. Professionals working in the child protection system give more value to characteristics of parents and to the socio-economic and familiar environment in the etiology of child maltreatment than participants from the general population. Prevention and treatment programs for abusers were considered as the more relevant strategies against child maltreatment.

Objective: The present study investigated several components of a social information-processing model of child physical abuse. The main objective was to examine the extent to which high-risk, relative to low-risk, mothers differed in their evaluations, attributions, negative affect, and disciplinary choices for children's behavior, and to explore whether these differences may be expressed in interactions between risk status and mitigating information. Method: Nineteen high- and 19 matched low-risk mothers' evaluations of children transgressions, attributions, affect, and choices of disciplinary techniques were examined using six vignettes depicting a child engaging in moral, conventional, and personal transgressions. One-half of the vignettes contained mitigating information and one-half did not. High- and low-risk mothers were chosen based on their potential for physical child abuse. A three-factor (2 x 3 X 2) design was used to assess the dependent variables. Results: As expected, high-risk, relative to low-risk, mothers reported more hostile intent, stable and global attributions, aversiveness, annoyance, and use of power-assertion discipline. A risk group by type of transgression interaction was found for evaluation and indifference and a risk group by mitigating information interaction was found for evaluation of wrongness, internal attributions, and aversiveness. A risk by type of transgression by mitigating information interaction was found for global/specific attributions, aversiveness, and indifference toward child transgressions. Conclusions: Results support a social information processing model of child physical abuse, which suggests that high-risk, compared to low-risk, mothers process child-related information differently and use more power-assertive disciplinary techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The purpose of this research was to determine whether adolescent mothers of newborns are at higher risk for child abuse than adult mothers of newborns and to examine whether adolescent mothers with memories of child maltreatment have a higher risk for child abuse. Method: Two groups (adolescents and adults) of pregnant mothers were followed for 20 months beginning between the 5th and the 7th month of pregnancy until the child was 18 months old. Adolescent (N = 24) and adult (N = 24) mothers were matched on sociodemographic variables. During pregnancy, memories of child maltreatment were evaluated. When child was 1, 6, 12, and 18 months old, risk for child abuse was evaluated. Results: Adolescent and adult mothers showed no differences in memories of childhood physical or emotional abuse. Nevertheless, adolescent mothers showed higher child abuse potential and depression scores than adult mothers. Mothers with memories of severe physical punishment showed higher child abuse potential scores and mothers with memories of physical punishment producing physical damage showed higher child abuse potential and depression scores. A statistically significant age of the mother by physical punishment producing physical damage interaction was found for depression. Conclusions: The results of this longitudinal study indicated that the potential for abuse was significantly greater in adolescent mothers than in adult mothers, and in mothers who had been victims of physical abuse than in those who had not. It also appeared that, among adolescent mothers, those who had been victims of childhood physical abuse constitute a higher risk group for child physical abuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Most adolescents in residential care have been through severe forms of victimization within their household. However, it is frequent to experience multiple forms of violence, and peer victimization is one of the most prevalent during adolescence. Trauma caused by interpersonal violence can have damaging effects on children and adolescents' health and psychosocial wellbeing. The present study aimed to measure lifetime prevalence and frequency rates of child physical and emotional abuse, neglect, domestic violence, and several types of sexual and peer victimization among adolescents in residential care. Additionally, victimization across contexts and effects of gender, age and immigrant status of the family (local vs. immigrant) were analyzed. Participants were 107 adolescents in Spanish residential care, aged 12–17 (M age = 15.16 years). Data was collected using thirteen items of the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire self-report. Results indicate that over 75% of adolescents have suffered victimization by peers and siblings, over 65% have suffered child maltreatment, over 50% have witnessed family violence, and over 40% have suffered sexual victimization. Gender and immigrant status correlates show females and immigrant-family females reported higher prevalence of sexual victimization than their counterparts, and that immigrant-family adolescents reported higher rates of physical abuse, domestic violence, and peer assaults. Remarkably, few age effects were found. Moderate associations were found between child maltreatment, and peer and sibling and sexual victimization. Highlights • 77% adolescents in residential care victimized by peers, most from immigrant family. • 24% suffered child maltreatment, domestic violence, peer AND sexual victimization. • Psychological abuse by caregivers associated to emotional bullying by peers. • Males and females in residential care show similar rates of sexual assault by peers. • Immigrant-family females: 7 times more likely to report sexual victimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parent-child interaction (PCI) is considered a critical environmental factor that affects child development. In the field of child and family intervention, assessment of caregiver-child interaction has great relevance for decision-making. The aim of this study is to report the results of a systematic review of the best observational instruments to assess the quality of PCI, taking into account the most advanced protocols. Firstly, one search was conducted to identify eligible observational instruments, and a second search was conducted to identify studies reporting on the psychometric properties of the instruments previously identified. To assess and rate the quality of the psychometric properties of the tools, the COSMIN (Consensus-based Standards for the Selection of Health Measurement Instruments) checklist was applied. The nine PCI observational tools selected (with category B - promising) are widely used by researchers and clinicians across different stages of childhood. The Keys to Interactive Parenting Scale (2−71 months) obtained the highest rating. The most reported and robust psychometric property was inter-rater reliability, but validity evidence is understudied. This systematic review can help clinicians keep up-to-date, provide evidence for policymakers to judge risks and benefits of health care behaviors, as well as assess the evaluation programs in child abuse and neglect context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The DPICS-IV Negative talk factor is a strong indicator of dysfunctional mother–child interaction. • The preliminary cut-off score of 8 Negative talk yielded optimal sensitivity and specificity indices. • Mothers in both clinical and non-clinical groups exhibited a similar frequency of praises toward their children. The Dyadic Parent-Child Interaction Coding System (DPICS-IV) is a widely used observational instrument that assesses Parent-child interaction (PCI) quality. However, studies specifically examining its psychometric properties published in peer-reviewed journals are scarce. The present study aimed to provide evidence on the discriminative validity of the DPICS-IV to identify indicators of parent–child interaction among clinical mother–child dyads compared to non-clinical. Participants were 177 mother–child dyads with children aged 4 to 8 years: (1) a clinical sample of 80 dyads where mothers experienced significant difficulties managing their children's behavior problems and identified by Child Welfare and Child Protection Services as at risk for child maltreatment or with substantiated reports, and (2) a non-clinical sample of 97 dyads from the general population. DPICS Negative talk factor showed high discriminant capacity (AUC = 0.90) between samples, with a cut-off score of 8 that allowed mother–child dyads to be classified with a sensitivity of 82 % and a specificity of 89 %. Findings of the present study suggested that the DPICS-IV Negative Talk factor is a robust indicator of dysfunctional PCI patterns of families involved with the Child Protection Services. Further research is needed to confirm these findings and to test the accuracy of the cut-off score with a representative sample of the general population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]