This study sought to explore possible child abuse reporting problems for children, including both disparities among school counselors. The participants in this study were elementary school counselors (N = 398) from across the United States. Each participant read a series of vignettes and completed a survey regarding their inclinations about…

Background: Practitioners investigating cases of suspected child maltreatment often disagree whether a child is subject to or at risk of abuse or neglect in the family and, if so, what to do about such abuse or neglect. Structured decision-making is considered to be a solution to the problem of subjective judgments and decisions. Objective: This…

This study sought to assess child abuse knowledge and reporting practices of a diverse sample of early care and education (ECE) practitioners. One hundred and thirty-seven practitioners in the state of Florida completed the "Early Childhood Educators Child Abuse Questionnaire." Results revealed that only a minority of participants have…

Child sexual abuse changes the lives of countless children. Child sexual abuse victims experience short and long term negative outcomes that affect their daily functioning. In this study, undergraduate students' perceptions of CSA were obtained using vignettes with an adult or child perpetrator and a general questionnaire. Results indicated…

This study examines the effects victim disability (physical vs. intellectual vs. none), victim resistance (physical vs. verbal vs. none) and respondent gender (male vs. female) have on attributions of blame and credibility in a hypothetical case of child sexual abuse. Three hundred and thirty-five respondents read a fictional police statement…

In research evaluating sexual abuse prevention programs, knowledge measures are typically used to assess the program's success. In other areas of research on child safety skills, however, skills are typically assessed through behavioral measures such as role-plays. The purpose of this study was to assess the validity and acceptability of a set of…

Objective: To examine a statewide sample of school counsellors' reporting behaviour of suspected cases of child sexual abuse, and their need for further education in this area. Design: A questionnaire using four hypothetical vignettes on child sexual abuse requested information on the degree of suspicion, reporting behaviour and familiarity with…