Individual Submission Summary
Share...

Direct link:

Poster #166 - Child Maltreatment Workshop Advancing Home Visitors’ Knowledge and Service to Families

Thu, March 21, 4:00 to 5:15pm, Baltimore Convention Center, Floor: Level 1, Exhibit Hall B

Integrative Statement

Introduction
Young children are developmentally vulnerable due to their dependency on caregivers to meet their basic needs. According to the Child Maltreatment 2016 report (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2016), nationally, children under 3 years of age represent 28.5% of total abuse and neglect victims. Although, home visiting (HV) programs are the most recognized prevention method used to address these types of child maltreatment (CM), very few programs have empirically demonstrated success in reducing or preventing abuse (Alonso-Marsden, et al., 2013). One contributor to whether HV programs are successful in preventing abuse is the nature of training and supervision (Casillas, Fauchier, Derkash, & Garrido, 2016). Despite this contributing factor, little has been reported about HVs’ general knowledge of CM. This study addresses this gap by examining HVs’ knowledge after participation in a brief training workshop. Areas of knowledge addressed are: (a) reporting of abuse; (b) types of abuse; and (c) functioning of the child welfare system. This workshop presents information to HVs through welcoming and interactive discussion relevant to their own experiences.
Methods
A 3x2x2 repeated measures ANOVA was conducted to compare the effect of time (pre- and post-training) on child protective services (CPS) knowledge, measured before and after a CPS workshop. 108 participants attending a CM workshop agreed to participate. Participants completed a pre- and post-workshop questionnaire assessing how to report abuse, knowledge of reportable abuses, and child welfare processes. Between-subject factors included participants’ Education and Position. Groupings for Education and Position are presented in Table 1.
Results
There was a statistically significant effect of time at the alpha = .05 level; Wilks’ Lambda = .483, F (1, 102) = 109.317, p < .001. However, the interaction effects of both Time with Position and Time with Education were not statistically significant. Because the only statistically significant factor, Time, included only two reference points (pre- and post-workshop assessment), post hoc tests were not conducted. Additionally, eta^2, an effect size measuring practical significance, was calculated. Time produced the largest eta^2 effect size of .52, signifying that approximately 52% of the difference in questionnaire scores can be accounted for by the passage of time. Eta^2 was negligible for both Education and Position. Results are presented in Table 2. Taken together, both statistical significance and practical significance suggest that the workshop was effective at increasing attendees’ knowledge of CPS reportable abuses and CPS process.
Discussion
Home visitors play a vital role in protecting the most vulnerable population from abuse and neglect. Results indicate the effectiveness of a brief training workshop for HVs. There was a clear increase in knowledge from pre- to post-workshop. The resulting effect sizes indicate that training was effective across all Education groups and Positions of participants.

Authors