Knowledge gaps, false beliefs, and limited skills with regard to child maltreatment are commonly found among teachers, despite their vital role in the lives of maltreated children. In Canada, little has been done to develop training or other supports for teachers around detecting and responding to child maltreatment. This study conducted a…

Child maltreatment remains a serious social problem, with neglect arguably the most pernicious manifestation. Neglect is characterised by a chronic failure to provide for a child's basic needs and often co-exists with other forms of maltreatment. It usually occurs in a complex social environment where socio-economic disadvantage is rife and the…

In this study, researchers gathered Canadian pre-service teachers' beliefs on the antecedents to bullying. Concept mapping (Kane & Trochim, 2007) was used to analyze the data. This study's findings identified pre-service teachers to have accurate beliefs, inaccurate beliefs, and a lack of knowledge about the antecedents to bullying. Concept…

Knowledge of, compliance with, and attitudes toward mandatory child abuse reporting were studied for 216 elementary and secondary school teachers in British Columbia (Canada). Teachers were aware of the law's existence but not its particulars. The tendency to report abuse varied as a function of the type of maltreatment. (SLD)

A Canadian survey investigated the knowledge and attitudes of nurses (n=929), youth/social workers (n=99), and physicians (n=574) about the occurrence of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in children and implications for child sexual abuse treatment. Physicians scored higher on knowledge about STDs, and youth/social workers knew more about…

The effects of the sexual child abuse prevention program ESPACE were evaluated with 133 Canadian children (grades 1-3). Children participating in the prevention program showed greater preventive knowledge and skills relative to children not participating. Follow-up data showed knowledge gains were maintained while the preventive skill gains may…

Evaluated "Talking about Touching" program (designed to increase children's knowledge about sexual abuse, ways to resist abuse, and where to get help) in five elementary schools. Found that children made statistically significant gains in knowledge about sexual abuse, teachers felt the program was needed and had few negative side…

Aspects of elementary school teachers' work that are problematic in identifying child abuse were studied in Ontario (Canada). Interviews with 10 teachers and questionnaires completed by 500 teachers and 100 principals show that abuse detection is affected by concern with academic learning and lack of information about child abuse. (SLD)