The "Families First" parenting program is a 10-week paraprofessional-administered adaptation of the Positive Discipline in Everyday Parenting program for West Java, Indonesia. It has not been tested in a randomized controlled trial. The objective was to evaluate the effects of "Families First" on physical and emotional…

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders and other developmental disabilities (ASD/DD) often need to be explicitly taught personal hygiene skills (e.g., menstrual care, penile care and washing and cleaning of intimate body parts). The taboo and private nature of intimate care skills has often led practitioners to avoid teaching these skills…

School climate is an important potential mechanism by which school-based prevention and intervention efforts exert their effects, although this is rarely examined in the context of child abuse prevention programs. The current study evaluated the effectiveness of a school-based child abuse prevention curriculum; the "Second Step Child…

Background: Evidence-based child sexual and physical abuse prevention programs delivered in schools are needed and require rigorous evaluation of program effects prior to widespread dissemination. The Play it Safe! program is a one-time session delivered by trained facilitators to teach students about recognizing, resisting, and reporting abuse.…

Child maltreatment is a global phenomenon that affects the lives of millions of children. Worldwide, as many as one in three to six children encounter physical, sexual, or emotional abuse from their caregivers. Children who experience abuse often show alterations in stress reactivity. Although this alteration may reflect a physiological survival…

Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) remains a significant concern in the English context with a broad professional research base expanding at pace in response to serious case reviews and government inquiries into historical sexual abuse. Whilst educational psychologists (EPs) have an established role in child protection and safeguarding, the work they…

Juvenile recidivism is a serious public health concern. Using statewide administrative data, this study examined the independent predictive value of childhood maltreatment on repeat offending and compared risk factors for recidivism between 698 first-time juvenile offenders with maltreatment and their propensity score matched sample of 698 without…

This research brief is one of a series of six briefs, which provide an overview of available evidence shown in the Campbell-UNICEF Mega-Map of the effectiveness of interventions to improve child wellbeing in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Five of the six briefs summarize evidence as mapped against the five Goal Areas of UNICEF's…

Children experiencing physical abuse by their parents are left with several difficult decisions. The present study aims at exploring the process of disclosing the abuse and the responses from social welfare workers from a child perspective, in a Swedish context. Data was obtained from in depth interviews with 15 children with a history of child…

The purpose of this qualitative collective case study was to explore the experiences of four key internal stakeholders who are involved with a school-based child sexual abuse prevention program in a southeastern state in the United States. In order to explore the experiences of participants, in-depth, semistructured interviews were conducted.…

Objective: Because physical exercise improves psychological functioning, it may be beneficial to college students with maltreatment histories. Thus, we tested the hypotheses that cumulative maltreatment would negatively affect psychological functioning, physical exercise would positively affect psychological functioning, and emotion regulation…

Social emotional learning (SEL) aims to promote student well-being, including healthy relationships that are free from harm like gender-based-violence (GBV). We investigated U.S. SEL policy through the lens of GBV, and how policy in the New York State (NYS) context operates to actualize or constrain SEL aims. To do so, we developed and applied a…

Background: Childhood adversity is linked to a number of adult health and psychosocial outcomes; however, it is not clear how to best assess and model childhood adversity reported by adolescents with known maltreatment exposure. Objective: This study sought to identify an empirically-supported measurement model of childhood adversity for…

Obtaining informed consent can be challenging in stressful and urgent circumstances. One example is when potential participants have recently had their child removed into care; intervention is urgent and mandatory whereas participation in associated research is voluntary. Using a nested qualitative study, we examined experiences of consent…

Maltreated children are susceptible to dysregulation, but developmental mechanisms at the family level that influence this process are understudied. In the current investigation, 4 mediators (positive parenting, positive and negative family expressiveness, and maternal sensitive guidance during reminiscing) were examined as process variables…