Objective: We conducted a comprehensive assessment of the reliability and validity of the Interview for Traumatic Events in Childhood (ITEC, Lobbestael, Arntz, Kremers, & Sieswerda, 2006), a retrospective, semi-structured interview for childhood maltreatment. The ITEC aims to yield dimensional scores for severity of experiences of different…

The "World Report on Children and Violence", (Pinheiro, 2006) was produced at the request of the UN Secretary General and the UN General Assembly. This report recommended improvement in research on child abuse. ISPCAN representatives took this charge and developed 3 new instruments. We describe this background and introduce three new measures…

A study (n=242) investigated the effectiveness of a simple seven-item scale designed to quantify indices of emotional distress during the rectal-genital phase of a child sexual-abuse examination. The Genital Examination Distress Scale found increased distress was associated with positive physical findings. (CR)

A survey of 279 undergraduates examined the validity and reliability of "The Courage to Heal Workbook" (TCHW) checklist and whether the checklist can distinguish between participants reporting sexual abuse histories and those who did not. The checklist had robust reliability and could significantly discriminate between survivors and…

The validity of the Child Abuse Potential (CAP) Inventory was tested with a sample of 40 child physical abusers and 40 nonabusers in Argentina. More than 97% of subjects were correctly classified as abusing or nonabusing individuals. The article is in Spanish. (CR)

A study validated the use of a structured parent interview regarding emotional, behavioral, and physical symptoms by comparing results among 22 sexually abused boys whose perpetrator confessed, 47 boys evaluated in a sexual abuse clinic but without a history of perpetrator confession, and 52 nonabused boys (ages 3-15). (Author/CR)

A study of 1,000 children examined the effectiveness of the Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scales (CTSPC) in measuring parental psychological and physical maltreatment of children, as well as nonviolent modes of discipline. The CTSPC was found to be better suited to measuring child maltreatment than the original Conflict Tactics Scales. (Author/CR)

This meta-analysis of 12 studies assessed the efficacy of projective techniques to discriminate between sexually abused and nonsexually abused children. Results indicated the techniques were able to discriminate distressed children from nondistressed subjects, but were less able to discriminate the type of distress. (Author/DB)

Criterion validity of the Sexual and Physical Abuse Questionnaire was investigated in 134 psychiatric patients using the Structured Trauma Interview. The measures of agreement and the predictive measures of the questionnaire were satisfactory, particularly with sexual abuse. Positive answering increased odds for sexual abuse by a factor of…

An Australian study of 110 mother-infant dyads and 85 mother-toddler dyads in which the mothers were mentally ill evaluated the effectiveness of the Mother and Child Risk Observation (MACRO). Results found that MACRO offers a convenient framework for assessing risk and interpreting the impact of maternal mental illness upon children. (Author/CR)

Describes a study involving 29 low-income parents with learning difficulties that validated a prescriptive home-danger and safety-precaution instrument containing 14 epidemiological categories to be used in the design and evaluation of family-tailored injury prevention and safety interventions. (Author/CR)

The validity of the Child Abuse Potential (CAP) Inventory was tested with a sample of 134 Chilean adults. The scale was able to discriminate between abusing and nonabusing individuals. The items which had the greatest discriminating power were related to feelings of depression, loneliness, anxiety, and family problems. (CR)