This study used an explanatory research model that determined the effect on caseworker time and therefore workload caused by specific characteristics of cases assigned after the child abuse investigation is complete. The purpose of this study was to explain the relationship between child protection case characteristics and the time an assigned caseworker devotes to a case. With this knowledge an informed methodology to assess the current workload of a caseworker could be used to assure that the caseworker is able to successfully complete the tasks required for each child assigned. Further, the knowledge of the amount of time spent on a case with specific characteristics allows supervisors to assess and properly assign cases. Utilizing focus groups and a secondary data analysis of the Florida State Automated Child Welfare Service Information System (SACWSIS) the case characteristics of race/ethnicity, living arrangement, placement, removal and prior removal were found to significantly affect caseworker time spent on a case. Additionally, the case characteristics of gender, age, type of maltreatment, and disability were not found to affect caseworker time spent on a case.

Children are among the most vulnerable to violence. A global problem, child victimization has been extensively studied in the context of public health research. As negative consequences of victimization are demonstrated, estimation of its prevalence and identification of its risk factors are two major concerns of researchers. Intimate partner violence (IPV), a worldwide prevalent family problem in itself, is directly or indirectly demonstrated in association with risk of different child victimizations. However, majority of previous studies on child victimization were fragmented into clusters that center on specific forms of victimization, primarily those involving conventional crime, maltreatment, peer and sibling abuse, sexual violence, and witnessing of violence. Efforts for assessing complete pattern of victimization in children emerged only in recent years. Nevertheless, this initial development that has clear research gaps is far from being enough. In such a context, the present study was conducted, in a comprehensive perspective, to uncover pattern and prevalence, and to identify risk factors of child victimization in the Chinese context. IPV was particularly examined on its relationship with child victimization. The ecological theory and family systems theory were integrated to build the conceptual research framework, a family-based ecological model comprising levels of individual, family, community, and social culture. This study adopts a quantitative approach. Questionnaire survey was successfully conducted among 953 parents of children aged 0-17 years old in Wuhan, China. The respondents were identified through a four-stage stratified sampling method. For the sake of ethical consideration and research requirement, child victimization cases were reported by the parents. The Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire (JVQ) was employed for measuring child victimization. Approximately one in two children was reported having victimization. Of these victims, the proportion of those who suffered from two or more types of victimization was as high as half; children whose parents reported IPV accounted for one-third. Through multiple logistic regression analyses, the hypothesis that prior victimization can increase the risk of other victimizations was confirmed. A series of factors in the ecological model, including IPV, were identified to have association with child victimization. All the ecological factors were further examined using a structured multiphase logistic regression analysis. The results of two regression models were compared. The factors identified to be associated with the risk of child victimization involve all four levels of the ecological model. The finding suggests that occurrence of child victimization and IPV are associated and share common risk factors in the family-based ecological system. The findings emphasize the necessity of a comprehensive screening for child victimization, and highlight cooperation between services for partners and for children. The implications also include the application of family-based ecological perspective in research, and the formulation of family-based systematic prevention policies on child victimization and related family problems. In general, the reexamination of the ecological theory with emphasis on family in this study promotes the theoretical indigenization in China. The research findings contribute to the scientific database on child victimization and provide valuable implications for policies and practice of child protection. / published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Theoretical and epidemiological studies indicate that women with a history of child sexual abuse (CSA) experience more sexual problems during adulthood compared to non-abused women. Despite the abundance of research conducted on prevalence and incidence of sexual difficulties associated with a history of CSA, very little is known on the psychophysiological sexual response of CSA survivors. A study was conducted to examine whether women with and without a history of CSA differed in their physiological and subjective sexual responses when exposed to erotic videos. A second study was conducted to explore potential predictors of the physiological and subjective sexual responses of women with a history of CSA. Overall, the physiological sexual arousal of CSA survivors was not significantly weaker than the response of women with no history of CSA. However, when controlling for levels of sexual distress and sexual function those CSA survivors with higher levels of sexual distress showed lower physiological sexual arousal compared to CSA survivors with less sexual distress. In agreement with prior studies, for women with no history of CSA the relationship between levels of distress and physiological sexual arousal was not significant. Similarly, levels of subjective sexual arousal reported in the laboratory were associated with sexual distress in CSA survivors but not in women with no history of CSA. Women who reported more re-experiencing symptoms and more negative affect before the erotic video showed a significantly lower increase in subjective sexual arousal in the presence of an increase in physiological sexual arousal. Cortisol levels measured before and after exposure to the erotic video indicated that higher dissociation experienced during the sexual interaction with a partner is associated with a cortisol secretion during exposure to sexual stimuli. This finding suggests a potentially learned stress response to erotic stimuli which may negatively affect the physiological sexual arousal for a subgroup of CSA survivors. Findings from the two studies suggest that the psychophysiological assessment of the sexual response of CSA survivors captures some important aspects of the sexual difficulties experienced by these women. A number of potential predictors of the physiological and the subjective sexual responses of CSA survivors were identified. Future studies will need to examine whether interventions that target these predictors can help CSA survivors to increase their physiological and subjective sexual arousal to sexual cues and whether this provides some relief to their sexual distress.

published_or_final_version / Sociology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

The main focus in this thesis lies in the observation of how the public debate is formulating and developing in Finland in relation to the current implementation of the Inquiry on historical child abuse and neglect in out-of-home care. This thesis analyses the testimonies published around the investigation and on historical child abuse, in the public domain. The release of two documentaries broadcasted on National TV (YLE TV1) in 2013 and 2014 triggered a, however scarce, online public discussion with few newspapers’ as well as magazines’ articles covering informatively the inquiry. The online debate has so far seen the participation mainly of the victims themselves of historical abuse. Generally, I found a confirmation that the Finnish individualistic culture is hardly prompt to open discussion on such topics. As S.N., a care leaver, explains in the second documentary: (Lehikoinen, Luurankokaappi, 2014) “the culture does not give space” though people have “the need to speak.” My thematic analysis on this debate has nonetheless disclosed an urge to come to terms with a past of institutional abuse, framed in a general context of public mistrust in the Child Welfare4 system. The care-leavers, narrating their stories in the two TV documentaries, disclosed memories of neglect, violence and systematical isolation of the Poor. Their stories are interpreted through the debate on the media as stories of injustice. Their narration portraits a concept of “child care” very far from nowadays’ standards of child welfare. Care-leaver H.S. points his finger on the Finnish child-care institution where he spent his childhood in the ‘50s: “Only a monster can send a child to such a place!” (Lehikoinen, Varastettu Lapsuus, 2013).

Child maltreatment in the pediatric population is becoming more prevalent in today’s society and is being seen more frequently in the primary care setting. Universal prevention of child maltreatment plays a significant role in nursing practice. The American Academy of Pediatrics set forth guidance for pediatricians to practice when assessing a pediatric patient for maltreatment; however, such guidance is not available for advanced practice nurses and little to no training is provided in the clinical setting. In order to accurately identify the child who is a suspected victim of maltreatment, advanced practice nurses must possess the ability to assess, evaluate, refer, investigate, and provide appropriate outcomes for the child and his/her families. The purpose of this Doctor of Nursing (DNP) project was to create an on-line learning tutorial for advanced practice nurses regarding the prevention of child maltreatment in the clinical setting. The goal of the on-line learning tutorial was to address the crucial role advanced practice nurses have in the prevention of child maltreatment and promote the well-being and safety of children. This project used a quasi-experimental, one-group, pre-test/post-test design to determine the effectiveness of an on-line learning tutorial related to child maltreatment. The pre-test and post-test would determine the inferences on the effect of the intervention by examining the differences in the pre- and post-test results. This study provided significant evidence demonstrating that an on-line learning tutorial on the implementation of child maltreatment prevention in the clinical setting was an effective means for increasing knowledge of nurse practitioner graduate students on child maltreatment. The results demonstrated a significant increase in the test scores of the participants after viewing the on-line learning tutorial, indicating the tutorial was effective.

Η κακοποίηση του παιδιού, αποτελεί ένα πολύ σοβαρό, παγκόσμιο και διαχρονικό κοινωνικό πρόβλημα με πολύπλοκους αιτιολογικούς παράγοντες αλλά και πληθώρα αρνητικών συνεπειών για την βιοψυχοκοινωνική υγεία των παιδιών. Οι εκπαιδευτικοί της πρωτοβάθμιας – δημοτικής εκπαίδευσης έρχονται σε καθημερινή επαφή με δεκάδες παιδιά, κάποια από τα οποία είναι πολύ πιθανόν να βιώνουν κακοποίηση. Είναι ιδιαίτερα σημαντικό για την καταπολέμηση του φαινομένου της παιδικής κακοποίησης οι εκπαιδευτικοί να διαθέτουν γνώσεις και δεξιότητες για την πρόληψη, την ανίχνευση και την αντιμετώπιση της κακοποίησης του παιδιού. Στην παρούσα εργασία μέσω της ποιοτικής έρευνας προσπαθήσαμε να δούμε ποιες είναι οι γνώσεις και οι δεξιότητες που διαθέτουν οι εκπαιδευτικοί της πρωτοβάθμιας – δημοτικής εκπαίδευσης για την πρόληψη, την ανίχνευση και την αντιμετώπιση της παιδικής κακοποίησης. Από την έρευνά μας φάνηκε ότι οι εκπαιδευτικοί ερμηνεύουν το φαινόμενο της παιδικής κακοποίησης ως μια εγκληματική πράξη που χρήζει άμεσης αντιμετώπισης ενώ φάνηκε ότι θα βοηθήσει ιδιαίτερα για την ανάπτυξη γνώσεων και δεξιοτήτων η ουσιαστική επιμόρφωση των εκπαιδευτικών καθώς και η συνεργασία τους με κοινωνικές υπηρεσίες. / Child abuse is a very serious, global and timeless social problem with complex causative factors and negative wealth effects on biopsychosocial health of children. Teachers are in daily contact with dozens of children and some of them are very likely to experience abuse. It is particularly important to combat the phenomenon of child abuse. Teachers need to have knowledge and skills in the prevention, detection and treatment of child abuse. In this work, through the qualitative research we tried to see what are the knowledge and skills of teachers in primary education for the prevention, detection and treatment of child abuse. Our research showed that teachers interpret the phenomenon of child abuse as a criminal act requiring immediate treatment. Also our research showed that the effective training of teachers will help them in order to develop knowledge and skills as well as their cooperation with social services.

This study examines in terms of Adlerian Life Style as revealed through Early Recollections, actual and perceived Birth Order, and Family Atmosphere the personality characteristics of adolescent males who have experienced some form of abuse and/or neglect. As part of the study, each subject participated in a structured, tape-recorded interview and each subject reported six early recollections, dreams, or made-up memories. Transcripts of these interviews were given to a panel of Adlerian psychologists who collectively analyzed and interpreted the subjects' information. They formulated a life style summary for each subject and combined common themes and personality characteristics to formulate a composite life style summary. Results indicate that Adlerian judges were able to identify several common life style themes and personality characteristics. The most commonly shared attributes were expecting bad things to happen, wanting to be special, and feeling out of control.

This study explored the reliability of disclosures of sexual abuse from preschool children. The study assumed the following: firstly the greater the level of trauma experienced by the child, the lower the reliability of the disclosure. Secondly, if the child had been severely threatened it was less likely that their disclosure would be reliable. Thirdly it was assumed that the more supportive the family was of the child's disclosure, the more reliable the disclosure would be. Fourthly, the study assumed that an important factor regarding reliability of a child's disclosure was the quality of the therapeutic relationship. Lastly it was assumed that the techniques used would be secondary in importance if compared with the therapeutic relationship . The research questions asked how techique, social worker and child-related variables affected the reliability of a child's disclosure of sexual abuse, and if there was a relationship between the variables and the child's ability to disclose reliably. The research included both qualitative and quantitative data and methodology. The research process was twofold. Firstly child, social worker and technique-related variables were identified from the case studies and the relationship between these variables described . Secondly, the effects of these variables on the participants' reliability in relating their sexual abuse experiences were explored. Thirty participants were selected through systematic random sampling. Participants were male and female between the ages of two and six years. The collective case study method was used and data was obtained from case records and analysed through content analysis. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used. The results reflected a relationship between the above mentioned variables. It seemed that child-related variables were important and could affect the child's ability to disclose reliably. However social worker-related variables seemed to be able to positively mediate the negative effects of some of the child-related variables. Technique-related variables seemed to be closely related to the-quality of and the specific stage of the therapeutic relationship. Techniques could be successfully used where a trusting relationship existed between the social worker and the child. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a problem of increasing intensity both internationally and within the context of South Africa. While various studies have investigated the post-rape experiences of CSA survivors, few have studied these experiences from a child-centred perspective. The current study thus seeks to explore the personal views of children and their ways of seeing the world in relation to their helpful and harmful experiences in the aftermath of disclosure. The sample was taken from an NGO, located on the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal, which deals specifically with issues affecting abused children. The sample consisted of 20 child rape survivors, between the ages of 5 and 17. Qualitative interviews were conducted in isiZulu by a trained Counselling Psychologist, who served the role of both interviewer and counsellor. Interview transcripts were translated into English and analyzed thematically. Data were organized within an ecosystemic framework in an attempt to conceptualize experiences at various systemic levels. Results indicate varying helpful and harmful experiences with regard to familial, community, institutional, and broader macrosytemic levels of influence. Harmful experiences at the institutional level appeared to have to do with the lack of information shared with the children as to the nature of the proceedings, and what was expected of them, rather than with the post-rape medical examination. Reactions of significant others, in particular the primary caregiver, were found to have a significant impact upon the child’s own feelings towards the sexual abuse. Fear of revictimization, disbelief regarding the minimum punishment afforded to the perpetrator, and feelings of being tricked, deceived, and let down by the perpetrator, were other common themes within the data. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sci.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.