- 作者：Ignacia Arruabarrena ; ignacia.arruabarrena@ehu.es ; Joaquí ; n De Paú ; l
- 关键词：Child maltreatment ; Severity assessment ; Maltreatment substantiation
- 刊名：Children and Youth Services Review
- 出版年：2012
- 期刊代码：13_01907409
- 类别：psy
- 出版时间：April, 2012
- 卷：34
- 期：4
- 页码：666-674
- 文件大小：248 K
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 10 h 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 20 h 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.