Introduction: Government agencies charged with receiving and acting upon reports of child abuse and neglect oftentimes find their effectiveness challenged by two features of voluntary and mandated reporting: overreporting of cases that do not truly reflect abusive/neglectful situations, and underreporting of cases where severe abuse/neglect exists. Purpose: To help generate strategies to improve reporting efficiencies, we explored voluntary/mandated reporter perceptions about acting upon suspicions of abuse and neglect. Methods: We conducted 14 focus groups with 143 participants from the general public and mandated reporters in a multi-ethnic, residentially heterogeneous population. Each focus group presented several scenarios to stimulate conversation about definitions of abusive and neglectful events and how participants felt they would act in these situations. Further, the focus groups explored participant perceptions of the impact of reporting. Results: Even in situations where participants defined a scenario as very abusive/neglectful, approximately half indicated that the situation should be reported to law enforcement or child protective resources. While participants indicated that their own involvement would be likely to make the situation worse, they also perceived that they were more likely to improve the situation most when compared with DSS or police reporting. Fear of retaliation/alienation was a common consequence of personal involvement or police reporting, but less of a fear with reporting to DSS. Discussion: Participants' criteria for reporting suspected abuse/neglect depends not only on their perceptions of the severity of abuse, but also includes significant consideration of their understanding of the consequences of reporting to the child, parents, and themselves.
Learning Objectives: Participants will learn about the use of qualitative methodologies - in particular focus groups - as applied to the area of child abuse and neglect ascertainment. Further, this project integrated methodologies (quantitative and qualitative) and involved collaborations with local government agencies, community agencies, and University researchers. Finally, participants will learn the complexity involved in decision-making about suspected cases of child abuse and neglect. At the end of this session, participants will be able to: 1. Construct focus group methods to ascertain beliefs surrounding child abuse and neglect. 2. Recognize determinants of over-reporting of non-abuse and under-reporting of abuse. 3. Describe the complexity with which people make decisions about whether or not to report abuse. 4. Recommend policy actions based on these complexities that encourage appropriate action and reporting of child abuse
Keywords: Violence, Children
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.