What Have We Learned About Treating Child Physical Abuse? A Literature Review of the Last Decade

• NCJ Number: 155551
• Journal: Child Abuse and Neglect Volume: 19 Issue: 4 Dated: (April 1995) Pages: 463-473
• Author(s): R K Oates; D C Bross
• Date Published: 1995
• Length: 11 pages
• Grant Number(s): 90-CA-1442
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Health and Human Services
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Literature Review
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This is a review of articles on the treatment of physically abused children and their physically abusive parents.

Abstract

Articles were selected only of they involved studies of more than five subjects; at least 15 percent of the children in the sample had been physically abused prior to pretest or posttest; comparison group; or randomization between different treatments used in the design were selected. Twelve papers meeting these criteria for abusive parents and 13 for treatment of abused children were found. Treatment duration ranged from 4 weeks to 12 months for parents and 4 weeks to 24 months for children. A wide range of treatments were used, the most popular for children being therapeutic daycare, with emphasis on improving developmental skills. While most programs showed some improvement with treatment, many had no, or very short, follow-up to see if improvement was sustained. There is a need for more emphasis on rigorous and longer-term follow-up of children in physical abuse treatment programs. Tables, references