A Scale for Home Visiting Nurses to Identify Risks of Physical Abuse and Neglect among Mothers with Newborn Infants

Autor/inn/en	Grietens, Hans; Geeraert, Liesl; Hellinckx, Walter
Titel	A Scale for Home Visiting Nurses to Identify Risks of Physical Abuse and Neglect among Mothers with Newborn Infants
Quelle	In: Child Abuse & Neglect: The International Journal, 28 (2004) 3, S.321-337 (17 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0145-2134
DOI	10.1016/j.chiabu.2003.10.011
Schlagwörter	Home Visits; Nurses; Child Abuse; Child Neglect; Risk; Mothers; Neonates; Disadvantaged Environment; Test Reliability; Test Validity; Social Isolation; Communication Problems; Measures (Individuals); Interrater Reliability; Infant Care; Psychological Patterns + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Hausbesuch; Abuse of children; Abuse; Child; Children; Kindesmissbrauch; Missbrauch; Kind; Kinder; Kindesvernachlässigung; Risiko; Mother; Mutter; Neugeborenes Kind; Testreliabilität; Testvalidität; Soziale Isolation; Kommunikationsbarriere; Messdaten; Interrater-Reliabilität; Säuglingspflege
Abstract	Objective: The aim was to construct and test the reliability (utility, internal consistency, interrater agreement) and the validity (internal validity, concurrent validity) of a scale for home visiting social nurses to identify risks of physical abuse and neglect in mothers with a newborn child. Method: A 71-item scale was constructed based on a literature review and focus group sessions with social nurses and paraprofessionals who had experience with underprivileged families. This scale was applied in a random sample of 40 home visiting social nurses, who collected data in a sample of 373 nonabusive and 18 abusive/neglectful mothers with a newborn child. Results: Items with prevalence rates below 5% and items making no significant difference between maltreating and non-maltreating mothers were omitted. The final version contained 20 items. This scale showed high internal consistency ([alpha]=0.92) and high interrater reliability (r=0.97). Exploratory factor analysis yielded a three-factor solution: Isolation (8 items, explaining 62.17% of the common variance), Psychological complexity (6 items, 18.86%), and Communication problems (6 items, 8.41%). Scores on Communication problems and Isolation significantly predicted scores on a social deprivation scale, which significantly distinguished maltreating from non-maltreating mothers. Mothers scoring high on Communication problems or Isolation obtained higher scores for social deprivation than low-scoring mothers. Conclusions: Home visiting nurses can identify risks for physical abuse and neglect among mothers with a newborn infant by focusing on signs of social isolation, distorted communication and psychological problems. (Author).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10