Abstract
BackgroundChildhood physical and sexual abuse can have a negative impact on adolescents and young adults. Although effective interventions that can ameliorate both the short- and long-term negative impacts are available, many adolescent and young adult victims remain without help: They rarely self-identify as victims, and health care providers generally fail to inquire about a history of childhood abuse, especially in the absence of physical signs. The health care field lacks an understanding of effective methods for the identification of childhood abuse. ObjectivesTo address this knowledge gap, this paper focuses on a systematic review of the literature for studies comparing modes of administration of measures to identify a history of childhood physical and sexual abuse in adolescents and young adults. MethodsA systematic review of the literature published in English in peer-reviewed journals between January 1, 1994, and December 31, 2014 was conducted to identify studies that compared 2 or more modes of administration using the same measure to identify a history of childhood physical and sexual abuse in adolescent and young adult populations. Studies that compared 2 or more different measures for identifying abuse were not included in this review because the focus of the review was to isolate the effects of the mode of administration. FindingsOnly 1 study that met review criteria was found. It was conducted among female college students in a university setting. No studies were identified that compared modes of administration used to elicit disclosure of a history of childhood abuse among adolescents. ConclusionsThere remains an urgent need to conduct evaluations of methods to identify childhood physical and sexual abuse including the mode of administration of screens in young people. It is recommended that future studies include diverse populations and randomized and quasi-experimental approaches.
Highlights
According to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, there were 3.5 million child abuse and neglect referrals to child protective services involving 6.4 million children in the United States in 2013.1 These numbers are higher than those in 2011, when 3.2 million referrals involving 6.2 million children were made.[2]. For both the 2011 and 2013 data, physical abuse made up 18% and sexual abuse 9% of all the Conflicts of Interest: None of the authors has any conflicts of interest to disclose
Actual prevalences of childhood physical and sexual abuse are considered to be much higher because National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System include only reported cases whereas most childhood abuse cases go unreported,[3] as has been the case for many years.[4,5,6,7,8]
Many researchers say that this discrepancy is due to wide variations in the way studies choose to define childhood abuse as well as the lack of standardized and accepted methods to collect this information, including modes of administration and variability introduced in measures by labeling the experience as “abuse” or asking about the experience of events or behaviors without a value label.[6,7,12,13,14,15]
Summary
According to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, there were 3.5 million child abuse and neglect referrals to child protective services involving 6.4 million children in the United States in 2013.1 These numbers are higher than those in 2011, when 3.2 million referrals involving 6.2 million children were made.[2]. Actual prevalences of childhood physical and sexual abuse are considered to be much higher because National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System include only reported cases whereas most childhood abuse cases go unreported,[3] as has been the case for many years.[4,5,6,7,8] the true scope of the problem of childhood abuse remains unclear. Childhood physical and sexual abuse can have a negative impact on adolescents and young adults. Effective interventions that can ameliorate both the short- and long-term negative impacts are available, many adolescent and young adult victims remain without help: They rarely selfidentify as victims, and health care providers generally fail to inquire about a history of childhood abuse, especially in the absence of physical signs. The health care field lacks an understanding of effective methods for the identification of childhood abuse
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