PREDICTION OF CHILD MALTREATMENT USING THE FAMILY STRESS CHECKLIST AND THE HOME OBSERVATION FOR MEASUREMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT (HOME) INVENTORY SCALE.
Contributors: University of Akron.
Published: 1993
Number of pages: 144
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Health Sciences, Public Health.
Description: Child maltreatment is a serious national public health problem causing increased morbidity and mortality rates and presenting legal, ethical, and moral dilemmas for health care providers. Maltreatment results from an interaction of parental attitudes toward the child, parent/child relationships, and the home environment. Assessment of these factors prior to incidents of child maltreatment may promote early identification of families at risk and prevent occurrence of child maltreatment.

The purpose of this study was to identify risk factors leading to child maltreatment and to validate the Family Stress Checklist for prediction of families at risk for child maltreatment. The Child Health Assessment Interaction Model that emerged as a part of the Nursing Child Assessment Project (Barnard & Eyres, 1987) was used as the framework.

This study was a secondary analysis of data collected during the implementation of a project entitled "Child Maltreatment Prevention Project: Coordination Between Public Health and Child Welfare" (Toomey, 1991). This correlational study, conducted on 46 pairs (92 cases) of computer matched opened cases followed by the Children Protective Services, used data collected by Toomey (1991). Frequencies and correlations were performed to analyze the data. The results did not support the role of the HOME Inventory and Family Stress Checklist for prediction of families at risk for child maltreatment.

The results did not support the hypotheses that there was a significant relationship between the HOME Inventory, Family Stress Checklist, and incidences of child maltreatment or between a parent's distorted perception of the child, multiple crises in the family, and the incidence of maltreatment. There was a relationship between the parent's potential to abuse and opened active cases followed by the Children Protective Services as measured by the Family Stress Checklist.

The Family Stress Checklist has the potential for prediction of families at risk and should be analyzed more stringently. Future research should be directed toward a rigorous research design, use of a pilot study, revision of the Likert Scale and demographic questionnaire, use of investigators skilled in interviewing techniques and data collection, and replications of the few studies in the literature using the Family Stress Checklist.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-10, Section: B, page: 5094.

Thesis (PH.D.)--THE UNIVERSITY OF AKRON, 1993.

School code: 0003.