Child abuse prevention should focus on improving mother?s ?life chances?

Researchers are cited for successful child abuse intervention programs.

By Mel Waters
Monitor staff

While incidents of child abuse may be on the rise, according to Norman Anderson, PhD, even short-term visitations by nurses to high-risk homes can make a difference.

Anderson, director of the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research at the National Institutes of Health, discussed the psychological effects of early child intervention at APA?s 1998 Annual Convention in San Francisco.

Anderson reported a 34 percent increase in confirmed child abuse/neglect cases in the past 11 years. Families earning less than $15,000 per year demonstrated a higher prevalence of abuse and neglect than more affluent groups, he said. Anderson went on to say that 'Researchers are trying to focus on the mothers to improve their life chances and thereby improve the chances of their children, and potentially prevent abuse and neglect.' As an example he cited the work of David Olds, PhD, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and colleagues whose Elmira, N.Y., study examined the long-term effects of nurses visiting high-risk teen mothers at home before and after giving birth. The idea was to learn if these visits would reduce cases of child abuse and improve the life course of mothers?specifically regarding substance abuse, reliance on welfare, incarceration and rate of subsequent births after the first child. Results of the 15-year follow-up study to the 1978?80 program not only showed a reduction in child abuse, but mothers spent less time in the criminal justice system, reported fewer instances of alcohol/drug abuse and decreased their use of welfare. A second study noted by Anderson examined the short-term results of prenatal and infancy home visitations by nurses from 1990?91 in Memphis, Tenn. Researchers reported fewer childhood injuries during the period and found that mothers demonstrated improved child-rearing practices and children were more responsive to mothers.