Caseworker assessments of risk for recurrent maltreatment: Association with case-specific risk factors and re-reports
Caseworker assessments of risk for recurrent maltreatment: Association with case-specific risk factors and re-reports
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DOI：
10.1016/j.chiabu.2007.06.006
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发表时间：
2008-03-01
影响因子：
4.8
通讯作者：
Elbogen, Eric
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Dorsey, Shannon;Mustillo, Sarah A.;Elbogen, Eric
目的：研究社会工作者对接触社会服务的家庭虐待复发风险的评估。具体而言，本文有两个主要目标：(1)研究个案工作者的风险评估与人口、儿童、父母和家庭层面的风险因素之间的关系；(2)审查社会工作者的风险评估与随后的虐待报告之间的一致性。方法：数据来自全国儿童和青少年福利调查（NSCAW）的基线、12个月和18个月评估，NSCAW是儿童福利机构调查的虐待指控对象的全国代表性青年和家庭样本。样本由NSCAW参与者的一个子集组成：报告儿童身体虐待或忽视而未被安置在家庭外护理的病例（N = 2139）。结果：分析表明，父母层面的风险因素和先前的虐待报告与个案工作者对身体虐待和忽视案件的风险评估最密切相关。一组较小的因素，因虐待类型而异，与随后的虐待报告有关。尽管风险评估和随后的报告之间存在一些重叠，但分析表明，个案工作者对风险的评估和再报告之间的一致性很低。结论：研究结果表明，尽管社会工作者的评估与文献中有限的一组风险因素有关，但这些因素中很少与虐待的反复报告有关。案件工作者对风险的评估与随后的虐待报告之间的一致性很低，这表明可能需要大量工作来提高准确性和识别风险最大的案件。实践启示：本研究为个案工作者、行政人员和政策制定者批判性地思考风险评估政策和程序提供了信息。尽管社会工作者对风险的评估与一些复发性虐待的经验预测因素有关，但他们的评估只比猜测好一点点。对于低风险病例，个案工作者的风险评估和实际后续报告之间的一致性更好，但主要是因为在研究期间，大多数病例没有后续报告。显然，需要在风险评估方面作出相当大的改进，以便能够更好地确定有风险的家庭，并将有限的现有服务用于最需要的人。Elsevier Ltd.出版。
Objective: This article focuses on caseworkers' assessments of risk of maltreatment recurrence among families in contact with social services. Specifically, the article has two primary goals: (1) to examine the association between caseworkers' risk assessments and demographic, child, parent and family-level risk factors; and (2) to examine agreement between caseworkers' risk assessments and any subsequent report, or reports, of maltreatment.Method: Data are from the baseline, 12-month, and 18-month assessments of the National Survey for Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW), a nationally representative sample of youth and families who were the subjects of allegations of maltreatment investigated by child welfare agencies. The sample consisted of a subset of NSCAW participants: cases with a report of child physical abuse or neglect who were not placed in out-of-home care (N = 2,139).Results: Analyses indicated that parent-level risk factors and a prior report of maltreatment were most strongly associated with caseworkers' assessments of risk for both physical abuse and neglect cases. A smaller set of factors, which varied by the type of maltreatment, were associated with a subsequent report of maltreatment. Despite some overlap in correlates of risk assessment and subsequent reports, analyses indicated that agreement between caseworkers' assessments of risk and re-reports was low.Conclusions: Findings suggest that although caseworkers' assessments were associated with a limited set of risk factors from the literature, few of these factors also were associated with a recurrent report of maltreatment. Correspondence between caseworkers' assessments of risk and a subsequent report of maltreatment was low, suggesting that considerable work may be needed to improve accuracy and identification of cases most at risk.Practice implications: This study provides information to assist caseworkers, administrators, and policyrnakers in thinking critically about risk assessment policies and procedures. Although caseworkers' assessments of risk were associated with some of the empirical predictors of recurrent maltreatment, their assessments were only slightly better than guessing. Agreement between caseworkers' risk assessments and actual subsequent reports was better for low-risk cases, but primarily because the majority of cases did not have a subsequent report during the study period. Clearly, considerable improvement in risk assessment is needed so that at-risk families can be better identified and the limited services available can be directed toward those most in need. Published by Elsevier Ltd.