Child abuse & neglect
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Child abuse & neglect · Oct 2006
Compassion fatigue, burnout, and compassion satisfaction among Colorado child protection workers.
The goal of this study was to understand better the risk of compassion fatigue (the trauma suffered by the helping professional) and burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced sense of personal accomplishment), and the potential for compassion satisfaction (the fulfillment from helping others and positive collegial relationships) among Colorado county child protection staff using the Compassion Satisfaction/Fatigue Self-Test [Figley, C. R., & Stamm, B. H. (1996). Psychometric review of Compassion Fatigue Self-Test. In B. H. Stamm (Ed.), Measurement of stress, trauma, and adaptation (pp. 127-130). Lutherville, MD: Sidran Press]. An additional goal was to test the relationship of these three constructs to each other. ⋯ Approximately 50% of Colorado county child protection staff suffered from "high" or "very high" levels of compassion fatigue. The risk of burnout was considerably lower. More than 70% of staff expressed a "high" or "good" potential for compassion satisfaction. We believe compassion satisfaction may help mitigate the effects of burnout.
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Child abuse & neglect · Jul 2006
ReviewDoes cardiopulmonary resuscitation cause rib fractures in children? A systematic review.
There is a diagnostic dilemma when a child presents with rib fractures after cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) where child abuse is suspected as the cause of collapse. We have performed a systematic review to establish the evidence base for the following questions: (i) Does cardiopulmonary resuscitation cause rib fractures in children? (ii) If so, what are the frequency and characteristics of these fractures that may help to distinguish them from rib fractures caused by physical abuse? ⋯ Rib fractures after cardiopulmonary resuscitation are rare. When they do occur, they are anterior and may be multiple. As the studies performed to date did not use the most sensitive techniques for detecting rib fractures, further prospective studies of children would be valuable to provide additional clarification on this question.
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Child abuse & neglect · Jun 2006
Similarities in siblings' experiences of neglectful parenting behaviors.
Researchers and policymakers typically assume that within families, individual children are at an equivalent risk of neglectful behaviors. There is evidence that siblings experience differential parental treatment, and some research suggests that parents may maltreat their children to differing degrees. However, because neglect is typically a family-level construct, there may be a high correlation between siblings for this type of parental behavior. Therefore, our objectives were to investigate the extent to which siblings reported similar parental neglectful behaviors, whether sibling correlations for family-level types of neglectful behaviors were greater than those for child-specific forms of neglectful behaviors, whether high-risk groups differed from lower-risk groups in similarity for sibling reports for neglectful behaviors, and factors predicting differences in sibling reports of parental neglectful behaviors. ⋯ Siblings report similar neglectful parenting behaviors, regardless of whether the family is high-risk or not, and whether neglectful behaviors are measured as a family-level or child-specific phenomenon.
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Child abuse & neglect · Jan 2006
Mothers in substance abuse treatment: differences in characteristics based on involvement with child welfare services.
Greater awareness of the role of parental substance abuse in child maltreatment makes it imperative that the substance abuse treatment and child welfare systems coordinate services for these parents. Yet little is known about the characteristics of child-welfare involved parents (primarily mothers) who enter into substance abuse treatment. This paper compares the characteristics of mothers in substance abuse treatment who were and were not involved with child welfare services, and discusses the treatment implications of these differences. ⋯ Study findings suggest that mothers involved with child welfare enter substance abuse treatment through different avenues and present a clinical profile of treatment needs related to exposure to physical abuse, economic instability, and criminal justice involvement.
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Child abuse & neglect · Oct 2005
Multidimensional assessment of resilience in mothers who are child sexual abuse survivors.
There has been relatively little attention given to positive adaptation following childhood sexual abuse (CSA), and typically such resilience has been explored primarily in the intrapersonal domain. This study explored questions about later resilience following CSA within a multidimensional framework by assessing resilience across intrapersonal, interpersonal, and intrafamilial domains. ⋯ The findings suggest the importance of comprehensive multimethod assessments of resilience and extend the knowledge of factors associated with positive outcome. The results highlight the need for further research exploring current contextual risk and protective factors associated with resilience in each domain.