Development and preliminary evaluation of a training method to assist professionals in reporting suspected child maltreatment.

The understudied process of reporting suspected child maltreatment to authorities is often difficult for both mental health professionals and family members who are intimately involved. Therefore, the current study was conducted to develop a training curriculum to assist professionals in reporting suspected child maltreatment. Fifty-five professional and student mental health practitioners were randomly assigned to workshop conditions that were relevant to either (a) reporting suspected child maltreatment or (b) learning to be sensitive to ethnicity. Results indicated participants in the reporting suspected child maltreatment condition demonstrated significant improvement in knowledge of child maltreatment reporting laws, accuracy in recognizing child maltreatment, and clinical expertise in reporting. Implications to clinical practice are discussed in light of the results.