Child maltreatment is associated with significant negative long-term outcomes. Behaviors considered to be more serious and abusive are more likely identified as maltreatment and reported. Therefore, studying child maltreatment perceptions among professionals and the public who regularly work with children could inform practice. Existing studies examining professionals’ and the public’s perceptions of maltreatment have reported mixed findings, motivating a more comprehensive study of maltreatment perceptions. Our study compared perceived abusiveness and seriousness of behaviors (a) across professional groups (educators, counselors/social workers, nurses, doctors, and police officers), and (b) between professional groups and the public. We surveyed 1,022 professionals and 500 members of the public. Respondents completed an 18-item measure on their perceived abusiveness of potential maltreatment behaviors, and rated the seriousness of 21 vignettes depicting maltreatment behaviors. We found that educators surveyed in our study perceived all child maltreatment behaviors as more serious, and emotional maltreatment behaviors as more abusive, than other professional groups. Conversely, police officers in our sample perceived neglect/emotional maltreatment behaviors as less serious than other professionals. Police officers also perceived physical abuse and emotional maltreatment behaviors as less abusive than other professionals. In our sample, professionals perceived maltreatment behaviors as less serious than the public, while the public was more hesitant to label behaviors as constituting abuse than professionals. These findings highlight the need to address inconsistencies in maltreatment perceptions across professionals and the public, to ensure the provision of appropriate intervention in suspected maltreatment cases.
Hidden youth are youth who withdraw from society for at least 6 months, physically isolating within their homes or rooms. There has been a steady rise in this phenomenon across many developed countries, and this trend is expected to continue. As hidden youths often present with complex psychopathology and psychosocial issues, multi-factorial intervention approaches are recommended. To reach this isolated population and address gaps in services, a community mental health service and a youth social work team collaborated to develop the first specialized intervention for hidden youth in Singapore. This pilot intervention combines components from Hikikomori treatment models from Japan and Hong Kong, and a treatment program for isolated individuals diagnosed with Internet Gaming Disorder. This paper describes the development of the pilot intervention model- a four-stage biopsychosocial intervention targeting the complex needs of hidden youth and their families- and illustrates its implementation and challenges faced through a case study. Based on 2 years of service delivery to 25 youths, good practices such as utilizing novel outreach strategies and the importance of involving and caring for caregivers are also highlighted. Preliminary outcomes of this ongoing pilot intervention indicate reductions in social withdrawal behavior and increased engagement in school or work, especially for youth at the final stage of intervention. Strengths of the program include its multi-disciplinary and flexible nature, and the whole-family approach. Limitations of this program included a lack of information on Singaporean hidden youth and the lack of quantitative outcome data of this pilot program. In future, we aim to further enhance program elements through collaboration with international and local partners, and to develop an evaluative framework to determine program effectiveness.
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