‘What Works’ In Prevention Of Child Abuse?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081203084526.htm

More Evidence Needed To Show ‘What Works’ In Prevention Of Child Abuse

ScienceDaily (Dec. 4, 2008) — A paper commissioned by The Lancet on child abuse shows more evidence is needed to discover ‘what works’ to prevent child maltreatment.

A collaborative study involving the University of Warwick and academic colleagues from Canada, New Zealand, and America looked at interventions aimed at preventing the occurrence of abuse, and those aimed at preventing its recurrence.

They examined all five major subtypes of child maltreatment – physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse, neglect and exposure to intimate-partner violence.
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Key findings from the paper on interventions show that the strongest evidence about ‘what works’ comes from studies about preventing abuse before it has occurred. These show that interventions such as the Nurse Family Partnership home visiting programme, which begins in pregnancy, and is currently being trialled at 20 sites in the UK, is effective in preventing physical abuse and neglect.

The findings also suggest that the training of the existing childcare workforce in the use of the Triple P Positive Parenting Programme alongside other universal media and communication strategies may also prevent abuse and deserves further research, as do hospital based education programmes that teach new parents about the dangers of infant shaking and ways to handle persistent crying. School based educational programmes appear to have a role in improving children’s knowledge and protective behaviours although it is not yet clear whether they prevent sexual abuse.

Parent-child interaction therapy is one of the few interventions that have been shown to prevent the recurrence of child physical abuse, and the review identifies a number of ways of working with children traumatised by abuse to prevent further impairment.

The evidence also suggests that children who are removed from abusive homes and placed in foster care have better outcomes, as do children who are not later reunified with their biological parents. Enhanced foster care, leads to better mental health outcomes for children compared with traditional foster care.

This is consistent with the continuing instances of infants and young child being tortured to death after being returned to abusive parents.