Childhood sexual abuse and adult sexual dysfunction: Response to commentary by Rind and Tromovitch (2007)

Rind and Tromovitch (2007) raised four concerns relating to our article (Najman, Dunne, Purdie, Boyle, & Coxeter, 2005. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 34, 517-526.) which suggested a causal association between childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and adult sexual dysfunction. We consider each of these concerns: magnitude of effect, cause and effect, confounding, and measurement error. We suggest that, while the concerns they raise represent legitimate reservations about the validity of our findings, on balance the available evidence indicates an association between CSA and sexual dysfunction that is of "moderate" magnitude, probably causal, and unlikely to be a consequence of confounding or measurement error.

The development and piloting of the ISPCAN child abuse screening tool-parent version (ICAST-P)

Objective Child maltreatment is a problem that has longer recognition in the northern hemisphere and in high-income countries. Recent work has highlighted the nearly universal nature of the problem in other countries but demonstrated the lack of comparability of studies because of the variations in definitions and measures used. The International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect has developed instrumentation that may be used with cross-cultural and cross-national benchmarking by local investigators. Design and sampling The instrument design began with a team of expert in Brisbane in 2004. A large bank of questions were subjected to two rounds of Delphi review to develop the fielded version of the instrument. Convenience samples included approximately 120 parent respondents with children under the age of 18 in each of six countries (697 total). Results This paper presents an instrument that measures parental behaviors directed at children and reports data from pilot work in 6 countries and 7 languages. Patterns of response revealed few missing values and distributions of responses that generally were similar in the six countries. Subscales performed well in terms of internal consistency with Cronbach's alpha in very good range (0.77–0.88) with the exception of the neglect and sex abuse subscales. Results varied by child age and gender in expected directions but with large variations among the samples. About 15% of children were shaken, 24% hit on the buttocks with an object, and 37% were spanked. Reports of choking and smothering were made by 2% of parents. Conclusion These pilot data demonstrate that the instrument is well tolerated and captures variations in, and potentially harmful forms of child discipline. Practice implications The ISPCAN Child Abuse Screening Tool – Parent Version (ICAST-P) has been developed as a survey instrument to be administered to parents for the assessment of child maltreatment in a multi-national and multi-cultural context. It was developed with broad input from international experts and subjected to Dephi review, translation, and pilot testing in six countries. The results of the Delphi study and pilot testing are presented. This study demonstrates that a single instrument can be used in a broad range of cultures and languages with low rates of missing data and moderate to high internal consistency.

ISPCAN child abuse screening tool children's version (ICAST-C): Instrument development and multi-national pilot testing

Objective To develop a child victimization survey among a diverse group of child protection experts and examine the performance of the instrument through a set of international pilot studies. Methods The initial draft of the instrument was developed after input from scientists and practitioners representing 40 countries. Volunteers from the larger group of scientists participating in the Delphi review of the ICAST P and R reviewed the ICAST C by email in 2 rounds resulting in a final instrument. The ICAST C was then translated and back translated into six languages and field tested in four countries using a convenience sample of 571 children 12–17 years of age selected from schools and classrooms to which the investigators had easy access. Results The final ICAST C Home has 38 items and the ICAST C Institution has 44 items. These items serve as screeners and positive endorsements are followed by queries for frequency and perpetrator. Half of respondents were boys (49%). Endorsement for various forms of victimization ranged from 0 to 51%. Many children report violence exposure (51%), physical victimization (55%), psychological victimization (66%), sexual victimization (18%), and neglect in their homes (37%) in the last year. High rates of physical victimization (57%), psychological victimization (59%), and sexual victimization (22%) were also reported in schools in the last year. Internal consistency was moderate to high (alpha between .685 and .855) and missing data low (less than 1.5% for all but one item). Conclusions In pilot testing, the ICAST C identifies high rates of child victimization in all domains. Rates of missing data are low, and internal consistency is moderate to high. Pilot testing demonstrated the feasibility of using child self-report as one strategy to assess child victimization. Practice implications The ICAST C is a multi-national, multi-lingual, consensus-based survey instrument. It is available in six languages for international research to estimate child victimization. Assessing the prevalence of child victimization is critical in understanding the scope of the problem, setting national and local priorities, and garnering support for program and policy development aimed at child protection.

Submission on NSW Attorney-General's Discussion Paper on Amendment of Limitation of Actions Act 1969 to remove time limit for civil claims for child abuse

The New South Wales Attorney-General and Justice Policy Division released a Discussion Paper about reform of the Limitation of Actions Act 1969. The key question was whether and how to amend the statute to better provide access to justice for civil claimants in child abuse cases. This submission draws on published literature and multidisciplinary research to support the Discussion Paper's Option A, namely, to abolish the time limit for civil claims for injuries in criminal child abuse cases, and for this to be made retrospective.

Submission to the External Independent Review of the United Nations Response to Allegations of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and Other Serious Crimes by Members of Foreign Military Forces Not Under United Nations Command in the Central African Republic

In 2015 the UN Secretary-General established an External Independent Review to review how the United Nations has responded to allegations of child sexual exploitation and child sexual abuse, and to make recommendations concerning how the United Nations should respond to allegations in the future. This submission to the Review Panel draws on literature regarding children's rights, the nature of child sexual abuse, international instruments and policy, the nature of institutional child sexual abuse, and the CAR case itself. It makes recommendations for reform of UN protocols and procedures to better prevent child sexual abuse, and to improve responses to future occurrences.

An abuse of process - traditionally: Smith v Lucht [2014] QDC 302

In Smith v Lucht [2014] QDC 302 McGill DCJ considered whether in Queensland the concept of abuse of process was sufficiently broad as to encompass circumstances in which the resources of the court and the parties to be expended to determine the claim were out of all proportion to the interest at stake. Stay of proceedings - abuse of process - whether disproportionality between interest at stake and costs of litigating may amount to abuse of process - plaintiff with good cause of action entitled to pursue it.

Can exploring natural recovery from substance misuse in psychosis assist with treatment? A review of current research

Substance misuse in people with psychosis presents significant problems, but trials of treatments to address it show little sustained advantage over control conditions. An examination of mechanisms underpinning unassisted improvements may assist in the refinement of co-morbidity treatments. This study reviewed existing research on natural recovery from substance misuse in people with psychosis. To address this issue, a systematic search identified only 7 articles that fulfilled the criteria. Their results suggest that people with psychosis report similar reasons to change as do non-psychotic groups, although they did not clarify whether the relative frequencies or priority orders were the same. Differences involved issues relating to the disorder and the functional problems faced by this group: receipt of treatment for mental health difficulties, worsening of mental health difficulties, and homelessness. The current research on reasons for change in people with psychosis is sparse and has significant limitations, and as yet it offers little inspiration for new treatments. A more fertile source may prove to be a detailed investigation of successful substance control strategies that are used in self-management by this group.

Critical criminological understandings of adult pornography and woman abuse: New progressive directions in research and theory

There is a small, but growing, social scientific literature on the racist and violent nature of contemporary adult pornography. However, considerably more empirical and theoretical work needs to be done to advance a critical criminological understanding of how such hurtful sexual media contribute to various forms of woman abuse in intimate relationships. The main objective of this article is to briefly review the relevant literature and to suggest a few new progressive empirical and theoretical directions.

Legislation Concerning Reporting of Child Sexual Abuse and Child Trafficking in India: A Closer Look

The increasing rate of child sexual abuse and child trafficking has become a serious concern for national and international policy makers. Because these acts are criminal, result in serious harms to the child, and occur in closed scenarios where the situation is concealed, it is very important for people who become aware of the acts to report the incidents to the appropriate authority. Reporting of incidents could help provide justice to the victim and penalize the perpetrators. In addition, it would help us to understand the nature and magnitude of the problem. The objective of this chapter is first to review the Indian legislation concerning mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect, and second to consider the potential for mandatory reporting of two categories of child maltreatment in particular in the Indian context: sexual abuse and child trafficking.

How childcare providers interpret "reasonable suspicion" of child abuse

- Background Childcare providers are often “first responders” for suspected child abuse, and how they understand the concept of “reasonable suspicion” will influence their decisions regarding which warning signs warrant reporting. - Objective The purpose of this study was to investigate how childcare providers interpret the threshold for reporting suspected abuse, and to consider the implications of these findings for professional training and development. - Method A convenience sample of 355 childcare providers completed the Reasonable Suspicion of Child Abuse survey to quantify what likelihood of child abuse constitutes “reasonable suspicion.” Responses were examined for internal consistency, evidence of a group standard, and associations with professional and personal demographics. - Results On a Rank Order Scale, responses for what constitutes “reasonable suspicion” ranged from requiring that abuse be “the” most likely cause (8 %) of an injury, to the second most likely (9 %), third (18 %), fourth (18 %), to even the seventh (8 %) or eighth (5 %) most likely cause of an injury. On a numerical probability scale, 21 % of respondents indicated that “abuse” would need to be ≥83 % likely before reasonable suspicion existed; 40 % stated that a likelihood between 53–82 % was needed; 27 % identified the necessary likelihood between 33–52 %; and 12 % set a threshold between 1–32 %. - Conclusions The present finding that no consensus exists for interpreting “reasonable suspicion” suggests that a broadly accepted interpretive framework is needed in order to help prepare childcare providers to know when to report suspected abuse.

Scoping study for a national survey of the prevalence of child abuse and neglect

This is a report produced as a result of a study commissioned by the Australian Government Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Child abuse and neglect: A socio-legal study of mandatory reporting in Australia - Report for the Australian Government

This report presents the results of a national study exploring the law and practice of mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect. Government administrative data over a decade (2003-2012) were accessed and analysed to map trends in reporting of different types of child abuse and neglect (physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect) by different reporter groups (both mandated reporters e.g., police, teachers, doctors, nurses depending on the jurisdiction, and non-mandated reporters e.g., family members, neighbours, depending on the jurisdiction), and the outcomes of these reports (whether investigated, and whether substantiated or not). The study was funded by the Australian Government and administered through the Government of Victoria.

Child Abuse and Neglect: A Socio-legal Study of Mandatory Reporting in Australia - Report for the ACT Government

This report presents the results of a study exploring the law and practice of mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect in the Australian Capital Territory. Government administrative data over a decade (2003-2012) were accessed and analysed to map trends in reporting of different types of child abuse and neglect (physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect) by different reporter groups (both mandated reporters e.g., police, teachers, doctors, nurses depending on the jurisdiction, and non-mandated reporters e.g., family members, neighbours, depending on the jurisdiction), and the outcomes of these reports (whether investigated, and whether substantiated or not). The study was funded by the Australian Government and administered through the Government of Victoria.

Child Abuse and Neglect: A Socio-legal Study of Mandatory Reporting in Australia - Report for the New South Wales Government

This report presents the results of a study exploring the law and practice of mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect in New South Wales. Government administrative data were accessed and analysed to map trends in reporting of different types of child abuse and neglect (physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect) by different reporter groups (both mandated reporters e.g., police, teachers, doctors, nurses, and non-mandated reporters e.g., family members, neighbours), and the outcomes of these reports (whether investigated, and whether substantiated or not). The study was funded by the Australian Government and administered through the Government of Victoria.