The present study examined the effectiveness of child development and child management training as an approach toward primary and secondary prevention of child abuse and neglect. Volunteer participants with a newborn child participated in 1 - 1 1/2 hour training sessions twice weekly in the privacy of their own home. Child development training consisted of 2 weeks of training in language, motor, self-help skill, and social skill development. Child management sessions (6 weeks) included training in reinforcement, shaping, punishment, rule development, writing behavioral contracts, mistakes of reinforcement, observing, counting, and recording behavior, communication skills, and coping skills. Following a 5 day baseline phase of in-home observation and pretesting, Immediate Contact Group participants began training in their infant's 3rd week of life. Delayed Contact Group participants began training in their infant's 12th week of life following a baseline phase which corresponded to the Immediate Contact Group's baseline, treatment, and post-treatment phases. Multiple outcome measures, matched across time for the two groups, consisted of the Adult/Adolescent Parenting Inventory (an at-risk inventory), a child development inventory, the Comprehensive Index of Marital Satisfaction, generalization observation, parent-infant observation, and role play assessment. Results reveal differential effectiveness dependent upon the outcome measure analyzed. Analysis of role play data strongly suggests that low-risk parents and parents who may be at-risk for child abuse and neglect can learn appropriate child management techniques in a relatively short period of time. Generalization of treatment effects was also demonstrated by improved responses to critical incidents not specifically targeted during training. Results also suggest that parents' knowledge of child / development was significantly improved as a function of brief, but in-depth training. Observation, at-risk, and marital satisfaction data revealed interesting, but, generally, non-significant results. Problems in the use of multiple outcome measures, recommendations for follow-up analysis, and suggestions for future research in primary and secondary prevention of child abuse and neglect are discussed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-10, Section: A, page: 4359. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74633 |
| Contributors | BLUE, SUSAN WENDY., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 420 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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