Child Maltreatment Knowledge and Responses Among Teachers: A Training Needs Assessment

Educators' experiences of coping with cases of child abuse and neglect: Challenges and supports

BACKGROUND

Although educational staff are uniquely positioned to identify and intervene in cases of child abuse and neglect (CAN), concerns have been raised as to their capacity to intervene appropriately in such cases.

OBJECTIVE

The current study examines the perspectives of educators on their experience of reporting CAN and on the barriers and facilitators experienced within this process.

METHODS

To that end, in-depth interviews were conducted with 29 educational staff in Israel (27 Jewish, 2 Arabs), including 17 school teachers and 12 counselors who had experienced coping with cases of CAN within their professional role.

RESULTS

The findings showed that educators experienced immense challenges related to the reporting of CAN. At the professional level, deciding whether or not reporting was required or would serve the best interest of the child, was the most pronounced challenge reported. The heavy burden of protecting children as well as the bearing witness to the abuse and neglect of young children had a tremendous emotional impact on interviewees, arousing feelings of helplessness and undermining their sense of trust in the world. Support provided within schools emerged as a very substantial facilitator of reporting that fulfilled various functions, including providing educators with professional guidance, a sense of togetherness in the face of challenge and emotional containment.

CONCLUSIONS

In order for educators to be able to successfully cope with such sensitive and complex cases they must be receive regular support and supervision that would address their professional as well as their emotional needs.

School-Based Interventions for Child and Adolescent Victims of Interpersonal Violence

BACKGROUND

Interpersonal violence against children and adolescents can affect their mental health and functioning in the long term. To reduce mental health problems in children and adolescents, school-based mental health interventions have been shown to be beneficial. A review of school-based interventions designed to mitigate posttraumatic symptoms after interpersonal violence is lacking to date.

METHODS

We searched for original studies published in English or German until November 2019 in 6 electronic databases. Supplementary search strategies to reduce publication bias were implemented. Peer-reviewed original studies assessing school-based interventions for children and adolescents under the age of 21 after interpersonal violence were included. Relevant data was extracted, synthesised and assessed qualitatively. The methodological quality of included studies was assessed.

RESULTS

Of 5,021 unduplicated publications, 15 studies met eligibility criteria. The included studies were almost exclusively conducted in the USA; over half utilised a randomised-controlled design. Studies mainly focussed on Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or depression. In all studies, implemented interventions partially or fully mitigated posttraumatic symptoms. Nine school-based interventions, five of which were based on cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), were identified. School staff were often involved in intervention implementation besides mental health professionals.

CONCLUSIONS

School-based interventions can be beneficial to reduce mental health problems in children and adolescents after interpersonal violence. Trained school staff aided by mental health professionals can implement trauma-informed practices at school. While school-based interventions may be a feasible way to provide children and adolescents with accessible mental health care, further research on school-based trauma interventions outside the USA is necessary.

Teachers' Responses to Child Maltreatment

Purpose

Teachers play an important role in detecting and reporting child maltreatment by virtue of their extensive contact with children. Current research, while limited, shows a tendency among teachers to under-detect and under-report various forms of child abuse and neglect. Methods: Using data from a pilot evaluation of child maltreatment training for teachers, we examined teachers' self-reported behaviours for different forms of maltreatment. Participants included 45 experienced teachers from a large urban centre in the province of Ontario (Canada) who rated their likelihood of, and rationale for, detecting and reporting maltreatment based on four case vignettes.

Results

Accuracy rates for detection and reporting were highest for sexual abuse (95% and 93%), followed by neglect (87% and 75%), emotional abuse (86% and 70%), and physical abuse (58% and 27%). Differences in detection and reporting rates were only significant between physical abuse and other maltreatment types (sexual abuse and neglect for detection; sexual abuse, neglect, and emotional abuse for reporting), with accurate detection and reporting rates being significantly lower for physical abuse. Teachers stated that the physical abuse vignette lacked convincing evidence of child maltreatment. Further, many teachers indicated that additional information was needed to determine whether the vignette represented physical abuse and, as such, was reportable.

Conclusion

Our findings suggest the need for more targeted interventions to improve teachers' decision-making with potential child maltreatment scenarios, especially for physical abuse, so that children who are experiencing maltreatment may be more accurately detected and reported to child protection.

Child maltreatment and management of pediatric patients during COVID-19 pandemic: Knowledge, awareness, and attitudes among students of medicine and surgery. A survey-based analysis

Purpose of the study

To assess perception, awareness, and attitudes regarding the medico-legal relevance of child maltreatment and management of pediatric patients during the COVID-19 pandemic in a cohort of medicine and surgery students, with a particular focus on child safety and maltreatment.

Methods

A cross-sectional, web-based survey was conducted through an anonymous questionnaire on the personal websites of Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore medical students.

Results

The study included 1,166 participants, the majority of whom were experienced with child maltreatment and defensive medicine; only a small percentage was aware of the government's efforts to prevent child maltreatment and safeguard vaccination physicians. Moreover, there was no agreement on the use of telemedicine for non-serious pediatric patients or on the consequences it might have on their health. Finally, the detrimental impacts of lockdown on children's mental health are a major worry.

Conclusions

Knowledge of these themes is mainly implemented by deepening these concepts during the undergraduate studies since a high level of knowledge on child maltreatment and on the management of COVID-19 pandemic was significantly associated with clinical years of course. Specific seminars analyzing telemedicine and legislative protections concerning minors and those concerning vaccination doctors should be included in the study plan to raise awareness these concepts.

Why Do School Staff Sometimes Fail to Report Potential Victimization Cases? A Mixed-methods Study

Schools are in a position to connect children and adolescents suspected of being victims of violence with an external source of support by making referrals to external agencies. However, several studies have identified obstacles that hinder early reporting among school staff members. Very few studies have applied a mixed-method approach to try to understand this sensitive issue. The current study used this approach to analyze to what extent the students suspected of being victimized match the ones reported by active school staff members in Spain (n = 453, 83.5% females, age: M = 42.23, SD = 9.46). We classified the reasons given for not reporting the potential victimization cases encountered and made comparisons to determine whether there were differences in the level of knowledge, or in the sociodemographic characteristics, of respondents who gave different reasons for not reporting. Although 73.5% of school staff members had detected at least one potential case, 40.8% of them referred it to an external agency. The most common reasons for lack of reporting included deciding not to do so once concerns had been shared within the school and believing that one must be certain or that only serious violence should be reported. The findings of this study may help to further understand the decisions not to report certain suspicions of potential victimization cases to external agencies by school staff. There is an urgent need to raise awareness about the duty to report these concerns to external agencies, even in the absence of agreement from the school management team. Members of school staff need to be strongly encouraged to become familiar with the existing protocols.

Child maltreatment and protective assets in the development of internalising and externalising problems: A study of youth offenders

INTRODUCTION

An emerging trend in child maltreatment research focuses on identifying protective assets that contribute to youth resilience. Extending the trend, this study examines not just whether but also how protective assets in various domains (e.g., the individual, family, and schools) are associated with internalising and externalising problems among youth offenders, which is a population that typically reports a high prevalence of child maltreatment experiences.

METHODS

This study used the baseline data of 790 youth offenders (85% male) aged between 12 and 19 years old from the EPYC project, a national longitudinal study in Singapore. Structural equation modelling was conducted to test the direct effects and interactive effects of protective assets and child maltreatment on internalising and externalising problems.

RESULTS

For direct effects, maltreated youth offenders reported higher levels of internalising and externalising problems than their non-maltreated counterparts. Higher levels of peer assets were directly related to lower levels of externalising, but not internalising problems. For interactive effects, overall protective assets, school/work assets and internal assets had significant buffering effects against physical/emotional abuse on externalising problems, whereas peer assets showed significant buffering effects against sexual abuse on internalising problems.

CONCLUSION

An overall level of protective assets, as well as assets from specific domains (peer, school/work, and internal assets) could provide protective effects on problematic behaviours among youth offenders. Interventions seeking to address youth internalising and externalising problems should focus on reducing child maltreatment incidence and enhancing protective assets within these domains.

Prediction of health, education, and psychosocial professionals' attitudes in favor of parental use of corporal punishment

BACKGROUND

To date, there have been few studies pertaining to the knowledge and attitudes regarding the use of corporal punishment (CP) among professionals working with parents and children. Yet, many parents turn to these professionals for advice on child discipline.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to describe professionals' legal knowledge about parental use of CP and their attitudes toward this practice.

METHOD

A study was conducted among professionals working directly with children or their parents through an online questionnaire.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 1,758 respondents from three sectors of training (psychosocial, health, education) completed the questionnaire.

RESULTS

The results showed that professionals have little knowledge of the legal guidelines surrounding the use of CP in Canada. This poor knowledge as well as the perceived impacts of CP on children acted as predictors of favorable attitudes toward this disciplinary practice. According to the regression analyses, other personal and professional factors also explain a person's approval of CP, including violence in childhood, religious practice, and sources of knowledge. The results also highlighted some findings related to the respondents' professional sectors.

CONCLUSIONS

The study results emphasize the need to better train professionals by targeting cognitive, personal, as well as professional factors.