The Changing Focus of Child Maltreatment Research and Practice Within Psychology

Abstract

Professions functionally define a field by the types of behaviors or circumstances to which they direct their attention and efforts. For psychology and mental health professionals concerned with child maltreatment, child sexual abuse has been the dominant interest over the past two decades and has been virtually synonymous with child maltreatment within psychology. This is discrepant from the broader scope of child maltreatment, as seen both in child welfare populations and in the general population. In child welfare, sexual abuse is an important but nonetheless relatively less frequent issue. Child neglect and physical abuse dominate child welfare caseloads, and historically always have. The disconnect between the interests of mental health professionals and child welfare appears to be waning, both in terms of dialogue within psychology and apportioning of research resources. This article examines what this emerging change may mean for practice and research in terms of the changing nature of populations involved, different types and locations of services, different roles and new multidisciplinary alliances.

Calculating All of Our Losses: Writing Real-World Therapy Experiences in Child Welfare

“…This is especially true in cases of child neglect. As discussed earlier, neglect presents as, and has different effects than other types of maltreatment (Chaffin, 2006;Dubowitz, 2008). For cases where parental rights are being terminated due to neglect, it may be beneficial, as indicated by Erin's story, to have some social services, such as family therapy continue.…”

“…The impetus of change to prevent child maltreatment must come from the work and the public statements of persons who have been affected by child disparities that are exacerbated by living in disadvantaged neighborhoods and communities, suggesting that child neglect in particular is rooted in social factors and issues that are difficult to change (Chaffin, 2006). Children maltreated in the context of parental neglect and who additionally experience community violence, poverty, poor nutrition, social deprivation, and inadequate medical care also continue to be at-risk for continued exposure to trauma in their futures (Briere & Lanktree, 2008).…”

“…For example, paradigms such as the "victim-perpetrator" that have been foundational for conceptualizing child sexual abuse may be over simplistic and counterproductive for conceptualizing neglect (Chaffin, 2006). Also, over representation of poverty and cultural and ethnic minority status has a number of implications for practices and programs of intervention and prevention (Chaffin, 2006;Erickson & Egeland, 2002). Therefore, programs must be flexible to meet parents' specific circumstances, and identify and build upon their strengths (Erickson & Egeland, 2002).…”

Common Components of Home-Based Family Therapy Models: The HBFT Partnership in Kansas

“…Chaffin (2006), Epstein (1997), andLittell (1997) examined the results of family preservation services and suggested that there is limited evidence of long-term effectiveness of addressing those issues. They each suggest the need for additional rigorous studies that evaluate the process of treatment to determine the mechanisms that lead to sustainable outcomes.…”

Reliability and Factor Structure of the Psychological Maltreatment and Neglect Scales of the Computer Assisted Maltreatment Inventory (CAMI)

“…Yet, compared to other forms of maltreatment, considerably less research attention has focused on these types of maltreatment (Chaffin, 2006). This situation is concerning given that existing research suggests psychological maltreatment and neglect are associated with equally severe or even greater short-and long-term consequences than other forms of child maltreatment (see Claussen & Crittenden, 1991;Hart, Brassard, Binggeli, & Davidson, 2002).…”