Building a Multidisciplinary Pipeline of Researchers in Child Abuse and Neglect

 虐待儿童是一个重大而复杂的公共卫生问题，是多方面决定的，可能导致各种负面的发展后果和社会成本。尽管在过去几十年中取得了重大进展，在了解问题的严重程度方面也取得了进展，但在知识方面仍然存在重大差距。问题的严重性，破坏性的短期和长期后果，以及共同发生的背景因素的重要性，使这成为一个具有挑战性的研究领域，需要多个学科的研究。医学研究所委员会最近一份题为“虐待儿童和忽视儿童研究的新方向”的报告（2013年）得出结论认为，要发展一个以虐待和忽视儿童为重点的研究领域，就必须建立维持国家多学科研究企业所需的基础设施。此应用程序响应于 通过实施一个为期五年的暑期密集研究培训机构，培养一支专门从事虐待和忽视儿童问题研究的新的熟练调查人员队伍，满足这一需要。拟议中的研究所“建立虐待儿童和虐待儿童问题研究人员的多学科渠道”将培训和指导那些希望过渡到虐待儿童问题研究但缺乏这一领域所需方法培训的早期职业调查人员和更高级的研究人员，以帮助他们克服在衡量虐待和背景问题、选择适当的数据来源和收集方法方面的独特挑战，实施原创设计或利用现有研究，以及道德。对虐待儿童问题的关注也是对目前《联邦行动纲要》（PA-12-207）对妇幼保健的关注的回应。研究所讲师（培训员）代表不同领域（例如，人类学、犯罪学、遗传学、法律、医学、心理学、公共卫生和社会工作）、方法论专业知识和文化背景。每年将通过全国招聘工作，针对学科、虐待和忽视儿童的兴趣、种族和经验的多样性，竞争性地挑选学员。研究所的培训活动在夏季之前开始，并在为期一周的现场培训之外，包括由符合参与者兴趣的培训员提供的个人后续辅导。有三个主要目标：（1）每年举办一次多学科暑期研究培训班，向博士后学员提供虐待儿童问题研究方法方面的重要知识，使他们能够领导或参加多学科或跨学科小组，继续推进这一领域的科学;（2）通过研究所后的后续辅导和传播机会，加强和促进对虐待儿童问题研究的持续参与;以及（3）通过将研究所的报告存档，在全国范围内提供持续的培训材料。该研究所将由两名来自不同学科背景的首席研究员领导， 在培训方面有着重要的合作历史，以及作为虐待儿童问题研究人员获得大量资助的经验（MPI：Drs Jonson-Reid和Widom）。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Child maltreatment is a significant and complex public health problem that is multi-determined and may lead to a variety of negative developmental consequences and costs to society. Despite significant progress in the past few decades and gains in understanding the extent of the problem, there remain major gaps in knowledge. The magnitude of the problem, the devastating short and long term consequences, and the importance of co- occurring contextual factors make this a challenging area of study requiring research from multiple disciplines. A recent Institute of Medicine Committee report (2013) entitled "New Directions in Child Abuse and Neglect Research" concluded that to develop a field of research focused on child abuse and neglect, it is necessary to create the infrastructure required to sustain a national, multidisciplinary research enterprise. This application responds to this need by implementing a five-year intensive summer research training institute designed to prepare a new cadre of skilled investigators dedicated to engaging in child abuse and neglect research. The proposed institute, "Building a Multidisciplinary Pipeline of Researchers in Child Abuse and Neglect" will train and mentor both early career investigators and more senior researchers who wish to transition to child maltreatment research but lack the needed methodological training in this area to help them overcome the unique challenges in measurement of maltreatment and contextual issues, choosing appropriate data sources and collection methods, implementing original designs or leveraging existing studies, and ethics. The focus on child maltreatment is also responsive to the present FOA (PA-12-207) foci on maternal and child health. Institute presenters (trainers) represent diverse fields (e.g., anthropology, criminology, genetics, law, medicine, psychology, public health, and social work), methodological expertise, and cultural backgrounds. Each year trainees will be competitively selected through a national recruitment effort targeting diversity of discipline, child abuse and neglect interests, ethnicity, and experience. Training activities of the institute begin prior to te summer and extend beyond the on-site week-long training to include individual follow-up mentoring provided by trainers matched to participant interests. There are three major aims: (1) To implement an annual multidisciplinary summer research training institute to provide post-doctoral trainees with critical knowledge in approaches to child maltreatment research to enable them to lead or participate in multi- or transdisciplinary teams that will continue to advance the science in this area; (2) To reinforce and enhance ongoing participation in child maltreatment research through post-institute follow-up mentoring and dissemination opportunities; and (3) To provide ongoing nationwide access to training materials by archiving institute presentations. The institute will be led by two Principal Investigators from different disciplinary backgrounds with a significant history of collaboration in training as well as substantial funded experience as child maltreatment researchers (MPIs: Drs Jonson-Reid and Widom).