Wellington City Libraries Palm Tree Blossoming of Our Children - Kia Puawai Ngā Tamariki - 10th Australasian Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect

Facilitating child abuse prevention research and models of best practice: The role of a national clearinghouse for child protection research


Author / speaker

Higgins, D., Richardson, N. & Bromfield, L.

Organisation

National Child Protection Clearinghouse, at the Australian Institute of Family Studies
Melbourne

The Australian Government has established a National Child Protection Clearinghouse to assist with the dissemination of research and models of best practice in relation to the protection of children and prevention of child abuse and neglect. In Australia, there is a range of primary, secondary and tertiary child abuse prevention programs. The results of an extensive audit and literature review of Australian and overseas child abuse prevention programs are presented. Based on an ecological perspective, programs were identified according to the focus of the prevention: children (e.g., Personal Safety; Child Therapy; Offender Treatment); families (e.g., parenting education, home visiting, and family preservation programs); and the community (e.g., community education programs and media strategies).

This paper provides an overview of the present state of knowledge on the effectiveness of programs that aim to prevent the abuse and/or neglect of children and young people under 18 years of age. More specifically, research related to the effectiveness of primary prevention programs (universal programs) and secondary prevention programs (those targeted at people who are 'at risk' of abusing/neglecting children) are reviewed. The emphasis is on Australian programs, within an international setting. The review showed that few of the child abuse prevention programs offered in Australia are rigorously evaluated. Of those that were evaluated, child maltreatment prevention programs have demonstrated effectiveness - but generally of a modest and short-term nature. However, there is considerable variation across specific types of interventions in the goals of the interventions, components and strategies used and characteristics of target populations. In addition, researchers use a wide range of measures to assess effectiveness of interventions. Thus, it is generally not possible to generalise or compare the findings of effectiveness across studies. The implication of this is that Australian child abuse prevention programs are not evidence based, and therefore it is difficult to claim that the programs result in benefits (such as a reduction in the incidence of abuse or neglect, or even more modest claims such as increases in knowledge or skill). In the absence of evidence-based program and service models, there is no way of knowing whether we are making the right choices about the funding and provision of services to ensure the best outcomes for children and families.  The gaps within the current knowledge base and the implications for a national clearinghouse and its role in research, dissemination and policy development are discussed.

Presentation

Poster

Biography

The National Child Protection Clearinghouse is a specialist information, advisory research unit focusing on the prevention of child abuse and neglect. The purpose of the clearinghouse is to collect, produce and distribute information and resources, conduct research and offer specialist advice on the latest developments in child abuse prevention, family violence, child protection, and out-of-home care. Dr Daryl Higgins, Senior Research Fellow, manages the National Child Protection Clearinghouse at the Australian Institute of Family Studies. He is a Psychologist, and has been researching various aspects of child maltreatment and family violence for more than 12 years. Daryl completed his PhD in 1998 on the topic of 'multi-type maltreatment' - looking at the overlap between the various forms of child abuse and neglect, and their relationship to psychological adjustment problems in the immediate and long-term. Daryl has been the recipient of a number of research grants and has published widely on the topics of child maltreatment, family functioning and family violence. He has edited one book and been sole or joint author of two reports, three book chapters, and more than 20 articles in peer-review journals. He has presented his research to a variety of conferences internationally.