NCJ Number
175122
Journal
Child Abuse & Neglect Volume: 21 Issue: 6 Dated: June 1997 Pages: 557-573
Date Published
1997
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This article reports on a study that assessed whether the number of disclosures of child abuse changed as a result of a prevention strategy on a national scale in a West European country.
Abstract
The study investigated child sexual and physical abuse, both ongoing and past. In order to assess possible intervention effects, the study measured changes in calls the Child Line, using a 4-year longitudinal design, starting before the intervention and ending 2.5 years after it was used (N = 3,117 disclosures). In addition, data were collected from the Dutch Telecom and a newly developed Child Abuse Form (N = 1,227). Finally, two measures were introduced: the disclosure coefficient and the relative disclosure coefficient. Most calls were silent calls, a phenomenon that deserves more attention in disclosure research. Compared to pre-intervention data, the number of disclosures almost tripled during the intervention and increased further in the post-intervention and follow-up period. Nine out of 10 cases disclosed ongoing abuse. Marked differences between child physical abuse and child sexual abuse were observed. The study concluded that mass media communication, if well implemented, can positively influence the process of disclosing ongoing child abuse. Tables, figures, references, appendix