Child Physical Abuse: Current Evidence, Clinical Practice, and Policy Directions

This eye-opening monograph challenges professionals across disciplines to take a more thorough and focused approach to addressing child physical abuse at the practice and policy levels. Positing child physical abuse as a public health crisis (as opposed to a more vague “social” one), the authors use empirical findings and clinical insights to advocate for wide-scale reforms in screening, assessment, responses, treatment, and prevention. The book’s social/ecological perspective delves into root causes of physical maltreatment, analyzes the role of family and community risk and support factors, and notes forms of discomfort keeping many professionals from meeting the issue head-on. From there, chapters describe coordinated multidisciplinary efforts for intervention and prevention with the potential to avert all forms of child abuse.

Included in the coverage:

· Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)

· The non-verbal child: obtaining a history for caregiver(s)

· Clinical perspectives on multidisciplinary collaboration

• Corporal punishment and risk for child physical abuse
  
• Intimate partner violence (IPV) and risk for child physical abuse
  
• Evolution of child maltreatment prevention
  
• Complementary dynamic prevention approach