Child Abuse: Examining Prevalence, Problems, and Treatment Approaches

This report delves into the multifaceted issue of child abuse, defining it as any form of maltreatment affecting individuals under 18. It highlights the rising global concern, particularly in the U.S., citing statistics from the 1990s and highlighting the severe health consequences for victims. The project reviews evidence on the prevalence of child abuse, identifies methodological problems in the data, and proposes recommendations for improvement. The limitations of the project are discussed, focusing on the generalization of findings from the American context to a global scale. The report then suggests the CDC’s technical package “Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect” and the analytical and action framework as treatment approaches. It outlines three goals: increasing community awareness, raising community coordination, and campaigning for children and families based on CAPCC regulations. Objectives for each goal are provided, including distributing resources, conducting training, partnering with agencies, and assessing children's needs. The report aims to contribute to the prevention and treatment of child abuse.

Running head: CHILD ABUSE 1
Child Abuse
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

CHILD ABUSE 2
Child Abuse
Child abuse is the subjection of any person less than 18 years of age to sexual,
physical or psychosocial maltreatment by either the parent or any other person playing the
custodian role (Albert, 2017). There are many forms of violence that people can be subjected
to throughout their lives, and child abuse is one of them. Whenever people are subjected to
violence of any form, they are likely to suffer negative health consequences. However,
considering how children are vulnerable physically and psychosocially, it’s evident that child
abuse constitutes the highest form of violence that is likely to results in severe health
consequences as these children grow (Afifi et al., 2016). Even though globally child abuse is
on the rise, statistics have shown that the issue of child abuse is becoming a social problem in
the U.S. This is so because social service department in the U.S received more than 2 million
cases of child maltreatment in 1990 alone. Also, more than 2000 child deaths were reported
between 1979 and 1988 as a result of child mortality. These statistics prove that child abuse is
a significant problem in American society, and there is a need to address it. That is why
through this research project, the evidence on the prevalence of child abuse from different
sources such as population surveys will be reviewed. After the evidence is reviewed, the
methodological problems that are common in the data provided will be discussed in detail,
and then the recommendations that will improve the prevalence of child abuse will be
provided.
Generalization is the major limitation of this project. This project aimed to understand
the issue of child abuse specifically in American society. Since child abuse is a global issue,
this project expects the recommendations provided after reviewing the evidence from
different sources in the U.S to be implemented globally. However, different factors
predispose children to abuse in different countries, hence statistics about child abuse
varies (Klevens & Metzler, 2019). Therefore, by implementing the recommendations of this

CHILD ABUSE 3
project globally, it's assumed that the statistics of the issue of child abuse are the same
globally which is wrong. The main barrier to this research was the lack of experience in
doing research. Most members of the project team had little exposure to how projects should
be conducted since this was their first time to be involved in research projects. Therefore, a
lot of time was wasted guiding them about the procedures of conducting the research. Since
the project was allocated a specific time for completion, the lack of experience was a major
barrier for the completion of this project.
One treatment approach I would like to propose for this project is the CDC’s technical
package “Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect”. Through the “preventing child Abuse and
Neglect” various comprehensive strategies and actions have been proposed. These strategies
and actions range from policy to practice levels in public health and they aim to prevent child
maltreatment. For example, actions on developing, implementing and sustaining prevention
programs. Also, various papers relevant to child maltreatment have been published by the
International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse. For example, the curriculum and the
treatment of maltreatment which the public health and the nursing schools could use for
practice (Tarantola, 2018). Another approach is analytical and action framework. The
analytical and action framework as a child maltreatment approach aims to ensure that the best
interests of children are protected by supporting the supportive role that parents, public health
systems, and caregivers play (Toth & Manly, 2019).
Goal I) ensure that awareness regarding child abuse within the community has
increased as well as the strategies for preventing and treating the affected children.
Objective 1- Distribute intervention materials and resource information.
.

CHILD ABUSE 4
Objective 2- conduct pieces of training within the community regarding the prevention of
child abuse.
Objective 3- enhance awareness on the prevention of Child Abuse.
Goal II) raise the level of community coordination and communication pertaining to
child abuse issues.
Objective 1- partnering with relevant agencies that serve children and their families.
Objective 2- talk about the issues related to child abuse in general membership meetings on a
regular basis.
Objective 3- brainstorm on the issue of child abuse on general meetings on a regular basis.
Goal III) campaign for children and families based on the regulations of CAPCC.
Objective 1- assist in coming up with prevention measures for child abuse within the
community. Objective 2- Disseminate information affecting the lives of children within the
community. Objective 3- assess what the children and their family’s need regarding the issue
of child abuse.

CHILD ABUSE 5
Reference
Albert, V. (2017). From child abuse to permanency planning: Child welfare services
pathways and placements. Routledge.
Afifi, T. O., MacMillan, H. L., Boyle, M., Cheung, K., Taillieu, T., Turner, S., & Sareen, J.
(2016). Child abuse and physical health in adulthood. Statistics Canada.
Klevens, J., & Metzler, M. (2019). Bringing a Health Equity Perspective to the Prevention of
Child Abuse and Neglect. In Re-Visioning Public Health Approaches for Protecting
Children(pp. 197-220). Springer, Cham.
Tarantola, D. (2018). Child maltreatment: daunting and universally prevalent.
Toth, S. L., & Manly, J. T. (2019). Developmental Consequences of Child Abuse and
Neglect: Implications for Intervention. Child Development Perspectives, 13(1), 59-64.