The overall aim of the present thesis was to explore and compare professional co-operation in child welfare investigations, explore the psychometric properties, and describe the clinical utility from different perspectives of a translated Swedish version of the standardized assessment instrument the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (the HOME Inventory). Social workers in Sweden, Denmark, Britain, Germany, and Texas (USA) co-operated with different professionals around a fictitious child welfare case. Differences were found between and within country-based samples, indicating an unsystematic work procedure in the social work agencies studied. The psychometric properties of the translated Early Childhood version (EC-HOME) and Middle Childhood version (MC-HOME) of the HOME Inventory were explored in terms of inter-observer reliability and by Rasch analysis. The samples were authentic Swedish child welfare cases recruited from a field setting. Inter-observer reliability was satisfactory. Results were ambiguous regarding measurement construction of the two versions studied. Because of the differentiating ability of the EC-HOME and MC-HOME, total scores could provide an indication of inadequate home environments. Experiences of social work practitioners of the clinical utility of the HOME Inventory suggested that they considered the instrument to be comprehensive and have explicit potential benefits, i.e. to be clinically useful. Correspondingly, caregivers’ overall perceptions of the HOME Inventory were positive, determining the content relevant and the format acceptable. However, certain flaws have to be rectified before the HOME Inventory is to be implemented and used successfully. Further, education and the possibility to practice administering the instrument seemed to be essential conditions for future use according to social workers. When social workers and teachers’ apprehensions about support and stimulation provided by caregivers to children in their home environments were compared, preschool teachers’ apprehensions correlated poorly with the social workers’ assessment. These results suggest that the HOME Inventory is promising but cultural adaptation and further studies of psychometric properties are necessary. Different forms of support to practitioners and agencies for successful implementation are required. Awareness of the type of information provided by different sources is important when co-operating in child welfare.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-05T20:04:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 14 / Nenhuma / Objetivo: Investigar os fatores associados à consulta clínica por injurias físicas domésticas não intencionais durante o primeiro ano de vida. Métodos: Estudo de corte transversal realizado em 500 lactentes, oriundos de um estudo de intervenção em famílias de baixa renda do município de São Leopoldo, que investigou a ocorrência de injúria física doméstica não intencional e sua associação a fatores socioeconômicos, demográficos e do ambiente imediato da criança. Razões de chance (RC) de consulta clinica por essas injurias foram estimadas para cada variável de exposição. Resultados: A grande maioria das crianças (86,8%) apresentou alguma injúria física doméstica não intencional durante o primeiro ano de vida e 10,9% receberam atendimento clínico subseqüente. No modelo multivariado, a chance de consulta foi o dobro para mães adolescentes, comparadas às demais (RC = 2,07; IC95%:1,01-4,25; p= 0,046); e foi 48% menor para famílias com escore na escala HOME, para organização do ambiente físico e temporal, abaixo d / Aims: To investigate risk factors for medically attended unintentional domestic injuries during the first year of life. Methods: Socioeconomic, demographic and environmental factors and unintentional domestic injury were investigated in a sweep of data collection of a intervencion study in infants in the Southern Brazilian city of São Leopoldo (n = 500). Odds ratios (OR) for medically attended injuries were estimated for each exposure variable. Results: Most of the children (86.8%) presented at least one injury during their first year of life and 10.9% received medical assistance due to those injuries. In the multivariate model, the odds of medically attended injuries was the double for children of adolescent mothers compared to the others (OR =2,07; CI95%: 1,01-4,25; p=0,046). The Odds was 48% less for families with the physical and social scale of the HOME inventory bellow the median of the sample (OR =0,52; CI95%: 0,26-1,01; p=0,054). The number of siblings showed an effect in the unadjusted model, but