Evaluation of the psychometric properties of the Turkish version of the child forensic attitude scale.

Purpose: This study was carried out to adapt the child forensic attitude scale into Turkish and evaluate its validity and reliability.

Methods: This methodological, descriptive, and correlational study was conducted with a total of 363 professionals, including 40 physicians, 87 nurses, 79 lawyers, 81 law enforcement officers, 20 psychologists, and 56 social service experts, between January 2023 and February 2023. The study data were collected online using a "Personal Information Form" and the "Child Forensic Attitude Scale".

Transcultural Adaptation and Validity Evidence of the Child Forensic Attitude Scale (CFAS) - Brazilian Version.

Child sexual abuse is a serious problem in Brazil and requires actions taken together by Justice, Security, Health and Social Welfare to effectively protect and guarantee victims' rights. Professionals working in these fields have difficulty in evaluating cases, owing to limitations of the Brazilian Welfare Network and lack of specialized training. Such difficulty may cause professionals to carry out poorly substantiated assessments and fail to properly protect victims.

Professionals' Attitude Toward Reporting Child Sexual Abuse in Saudi Arabia.

Child sexual abuse (CSA) requires specialized knowledge and training that includes forensic interview skills. The aim of this study was to determine variations in professionals' attitudes toward CSA by measuring three aspects of forensic attitudes (sensitivity, specificity, and skepticism) and evaluating disagreements concerning the assessment of CSA cases in Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional, web-based study, in which the Child Forensic Attitude Scale was used to measure professionals' attitudes, was conducted.

Reliability of professional judgments in forensic child sexual abuse evaluations: unsettled or unsettling science?

In the absence of photographic or DNA evidence, a credible eyewitness, or perpetrator confession, forensic evaluators in cases of alleged child sexual abuse must rely on psychosocial or "soft" evidence, often requiring substantial professional judgment for case determination. This article offers a three-part rebuttal to Herman's (2009 ) argument that forensic decisions based on psychosocial evidence are fundamentally unreliable and that this conclusion represents settled science. The article also discusses the potentially adverse consequences of Herman's proposed reforms to forensic practice on child protection and prosecution efforts.

Base rates, multiple indicators, and comprehensive forensic evaluations: why sexualized behavior still counts in assessments of child sexual abuse allegations.

Developmentally inappropriate sexual behavior has long been viewed as a possible indicator of child sexual abuse. In recent years, however, the utility of sexualized behavior in forensic assessments of alleged child sexual abuse has been seriously challenged. This article addresses a number of the concerns that have been raised about the diagnostic value of sexualized behavior, including the claim that when population base rates for abuse are properly taken into account, the diagnostic value of sexualized behavior is insignificant.

Contested issues in the evaluation of child sexual abuse allegations: why consensus on best practice remains elusive.

This is an introductory article to a special issue of the Journal of Childhood Sexual Abuse that responds to challenges to current forensic evaluation practice found in Kuehnle and Connell's edited volume The Evaluation of Child Sexual Abuse Allegations: A Comprehensive Guide to Assessment and Testimony (2009). This article describes the topics that will be addressed in this issue, summarizes the contents of the Kuehnle and Connell book, and provides a hypothetical case to illustrate potential problems in applying certain perspectives and guidelines offered in the book to actual forensic practice.

Forensic child sexual abuse evaluations: assessing subjectivity and bias in professional judgements.

Objectives: Evaluators examining the same evidence often arrive at substantially different conclusions in forensic assessments of child sexual abuse (CSA). This study attempts to identify and quantify subjective factors that contribute to such disagreements so that interventions can be devised to improve the reliability of case decisions.

Methods: Participants included 1106 professionals in the field of child maltreatment representing a range of professional positions or job titles and years of experience.

Youth self-report of physical and sexual abuse: a latent class analysis.

Objective: To determine if meaningful groups of at-risk pre-adolescent youth could be identified based on their self-report of physical and sexual abuse histories.

Methods: Youth participating in a consortium of ongoing longitudinal studies were interviewed using an audio-computer assisted self-interview (A-CASI) when they were approximately 12 years of age to obtain information about their perceived experiences of physical (18 items) and sexual (12 items) abuse. In addition, Child Protective Service records were reviewed and the taxonomy developed for defining maltreatment characteristics (Barnett, Manly, & Cicchetti, 1993) was applied.

Adverse childhood exposures and reported child health at age 12.

Objective: The relationship between adverse childhood exposures and poor health, illness, and somatic complaints at age 12 was examined.

Methods: LONGSCAN (Consortium for Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect) tracks a group of children with variable risk for maltreatment. Of the participating child-caregiver dyads, 805 completed an interview when the child was age 4 or age 6, as well as interviews at age 8 and 12.

Beyond sexual abuse: the impact of other maltreatment experiences on sexualized behaviors.

This study sought to broaden research findings linking maltreatment to sexualized behaviors by investigating whether maltreatment experiences other than sexual abuse predict such behaviors. The sample included 690 children without reported sexual abuse histories who are participants in the LONGSCAN Consortium, a prospective multisite investigation of childhood maltreatment. Child Protective Service reports before age 8 years and caregiver reports on the Child Sexual Behavior Inventory-II at age 8 years were used to examine the relationship between maltreatment timing and type, and sexualized behaviors.

Concordance between adolescent reports of childhood abuse and Child Protective Service determinations in an at-risk sample of young adolescents.

This study examines the concordance between adolescent reports of abuse and abuse determinations from Child Protective Service (CPS) agencies. It also compares the utility of adolescent reports of abuse, relative to CPS determinations in predicting adolescent psychological adjustment. The sample included 350 early adolescents, ages 12 to 13 years, who were initially identified prior to age 2 years as being at elevated risk of maltreatment.

Reporting participants in research studies to Child Protective Services: limited risk to attrition.

This study examines the impact of Child Protective Services (CPS) reports made by research study staff on participant retention and discusses human subjects protocols that may minimize either the need to make such reports or the negative impact of reporting on participants and on participant retention. Among 1, 354 primary caregiver-child pairs in the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN) studies, a total of 15 were reported to CPS by study staff. Within this group, rates of study-generated reports and study participation subsequent to having been reported by researchers were examined.

Describing maltreatment: do child protective service reports and research definitions agree?

Objective: The National Research Council identified inadequate research definitions for abuse and neglect as barriers to research in child maltreatment. We examine the concordance between child protective services (CPS) classifications of maltreatment type with the determinations of type from two research coding systems. We contrast the two coding systems and the CPS classification, in their ability to predict subsequent difficulties in the psychological functioning of maltreated children at age 8.