ASSESSMENT OF PROTECTIVE FACTORS FOR CHILD MALTREATMENT AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF A CHILD MALTREATMENT PREVENTION PROGRAM IN UNDER-SERVED COUNTIES IN NORTH TEXAS

Purpose: The objective of the study was to measure the protective factors, risk factors, and predictive factors of child maltreatment in two counties underserved by public health programs. Methods: A local community children's health coalition in conjunction with the Cook Children's Hospital developed and conducted a child maltreatment survey among 803 randomly selected parents of children from ages 0 to 14 years from two underserved counties in North Texas. We used SAS and SPSS software to analyze the survey data. We estimated and compared the predictive, protective and risk factor scores for child maltreatment to national norms. Results: The overall prevalence for past experience of child abuse is 15.3% (n=123). Possible substance abuse is indicated in 6.4% (n=51) of the respondents. The protective factor baseline scores are similar between the counties. The overall scores for each county ranges are between 5.8 and 6.0. The overall average protective factor score tends to increase as the number of children per household increases from one child to two children, however further increase in family size decreases the mean for the protective factor score. Concrete support scores (which encompass housing and financial support) were higher among parents who had at least some familiarity with parenting education programs, parent support services, or social support services. Conclusions: Although the counties have strong scores for most of the protective factors against child maltreatment, concrete support is lacking. The study indicates that many respondents in both counties are unfamiliar with services that offer education and support to parents. Comparison between current protective factor scores and scores after the introduction of community interventions that promote parenting support services may provide more clarity on these relationships.