Effects of Forms of Child Abuses on Children and Young People - Research Paper Example

Program

Supervisor

May 13, 2016

Contents

Introduction3

Research questions4

Methodology4

Research design4

Sample5

Data collection tools7

Data collection procedure8

Data analysis9

Time frame9

Ethics10

Evaluation of potential relevance of the study11

Reference list13

Comparing Psychological effects of Forms of Child Abuses on Children and Young People

• Introduction

Statistics on child abuse and maltreatment identify long-term significance of the problem and the need for a specialized solution. The World Health Organization reports that about 25 percent of adults experienced child abuse during their tender years and that susceptibility to child abuse is a factor of gender (The World Health Organization, 2014). Data from the United States, a developed country, supports the world statistics that about 25 percent of children are abused (The Centres for Disease Control & Prevention, 2016). Consistent data have also been reported from the United Kingdom with a greater risk of abuse being reported among female children and incidences in different social set ups including in religious institutions (The National Health Services, 2016). Consequences of child abuse such as stress that undermine development of the “nervous and immune systems” (The World Health Organization, 2014, p. 1) exposes the affected children to behavioural problems and even physical and psychological problems. Different forms of child abuse and maltreatment exist with “physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect” (The Centres for Disease Control & Prevention, 2016) as examples but the degree of the effects, however, may vary (The National Health Services, 2016).

Literature on forms of child abuse suggests equivalent significance of each of the forms with a possibility of slight differences mild difference. Psychiatric and behavioural effects of child abuse are equivalent across the different forms of child abuse (Vachoon et al., 2015). Armiento et al. (2016) support this in their findings that different forms of child abuse have the same direction of effects on non-suicidal self-injury. A study on natives and non-natives in Sweden, however, identifies difference in effects of child abuse, based on the type of abuse that is experienced and ethnicity. Results from the study associate emotional and sexual violation with depression while physical abuse is not associated with depression among natives (Wangel, et al., 2015). The difference by a demographic factor, ethnicity, reflects on the effects of age and sex on significance of forms of direct abuse (Armiento et al., 2016). Other factors such as body mass and level of depression (McCcarthy & McCarthy, 2014) as well as emotional capacity (Langevin, Hebert, & Cossette, 2015) also mediate significance of child abuse on children.

The literature identifies significance of child abuse and possible difference in effects of the forms of child abuse based on environmental factors. The current study seeks to investigate the relative significance of forms of child abuse and possible mediator factors in the United Kingdom. The following research questions and hypotheses will be investigated.

• • • Research questions
• Is there a difference in effects of the forms of child abuse on children and young people in the United Kingdom environment?
• What are the moderator factors in the relationship between child abuse and effects?

H1O: No significant difference exist in effects of child abuse by type of abuse

H2O: No significant difference exist in effects of child abuse due to environmental factors

• Methodology
  • Research design

The quantitative method’s survey design has been selected because of its features and advantages that guarantee feasibility of the study, as compared to features of alternative quantitative designs. Lack of need for control over research participants or variables in a study is one of the features of the design and has diverse advantages. Treatment involves subjecting research participants to conditions that might pose risks to their physical and emotional well-being and the associated legal and ethical implications are barriers. Observational design, however, does not require the treatment, eliminates the implications, and aids feasibility. Treatment also has financial implications and its absence means financial feasibility of the study. Observational design, because of lack of treatment, is also simple to implement and is affordable to allow for use of large sample sizes. This translates to ability to generalize research results due to associated reliability. The design can also guarantee anonymity of research participants, an aspect that protects the participants from possible harm due to association with a study. Consequently, the design is feasible because of its ability to meet quality, moral, and legal expectations at a reasonable cost (May & Holmes, 2012).

• • Sample

Children and adolescents from the United Kingdom form the population of the study. A city will be selected at random, and a child abuse facility within the city will then be selected at random. Children and adolescents who have been registered at the facility within the last two years will then define the sample space. Special attention will be paid to the geographical location of the study because of associated costs. Restricting the study to a single area will minimize travelling time and cost as well as the number of experts that will be involved in data collection. A sample size of 250 will be targeted. Even though most of the studies on the subject have utilized very large sample sizes, compared to the proposed size, as evidenced in the reviewed empirical study, one of the studies (by Langevin, Hebert, & Cossette, 2015) used a smaller size (n= 124). This justifies the use of a small sample size that will also aid feasibility while maintaining an acceptable level of reliability. Limited time and financial resources that are available for the study are other factors to determination of a relatively small sample size.

The simple random sampling approach will be used for the study. Every member of the sample space has an equal probability of being selected into the sample in this probability sampling technique. The sampling approach is simple to implement because it does not involve any rule. It also promises a representative sample because of its lack of bias in sampling (Zikmund et al., 2013). Sampling will involve identification of the city and facility to be used in data collection. The scope of the study will be explained to the facility’s management, and their informed consent will be sought. Following the consent, a random sample will be recruited from the facility’s database, based on the inclusion criterion of the target having been registered with the facility within the last two years. Parents or guardians of the recruited children and adolescents will be contacted, the scope of the study will be explained to them, and their informed consent will be sought. The children and adolescents will then be contacted and their willingness to participate in the study be established. Those who will be willing will be selected into the final sample. The procedure will be repeated with additional children from the facility should the first attempt fail to select the desired sample size. Autonomy and informed consent are the relevant ethical principles to the sampling stage and the proposed approach guarantees compliance (May & Holmes, 2012). Children lack legal capacity for self-determination and the study will seek authority from parents or guardians of the children. In addition, the study will only consider those children who will be willing to participate in the study, after they shall have been informed of the scope of the study. This will ensure that no child participates in the study without a legally acceptable consent and personal conviction into the study.

• • Data collection tools

Questionnaires will be used for data collection. The NorVold Abuse Questionnaire will be used to identify types of abuse to which the children have been exposed and the level of abuse. The inteRAI Child and Youth Mental Health Assessment (ChYMH) and the California Child Q-Set, however, will be used to measure possible effects of abuses. The inteRAI Child and Youth Mental Health Assessment will measure conditions of the children based on their psychological and health status as well as their relationship with their environment while the California Child Q-Set will measure aspects of development among the children. Previous use of the data collection tools in other study formed the primary rationale into their selection. Wangel, et al. (2015) used the NorVold to investigate history of different forms of abuse, an aspect that the proposed study will also measure. The study by Armiento, et al. (2016), however, used the inteRAI Child and Youth Mental Health Assessment (ChYMH) to collect data on possible effects of abuse on behavior. Vachon et al. (2015), however, used the inteRAI Child and Youth Mental Health Assessment (ChYMH) to determine traits of children that had experienced abuse. Using these instruments, therefore, will ensure collection of data on forms of abuses, levels of abuses, factors around the children, and the children’s conditions that will be evaluated with the abuses.

Questionnaires, especially existing questionnaires, have many advantages that also informed the selection. They are suitable for collecting survey data and are easy to use. Questionnaires are also suitable for collecting data from large samples and for collecting wide scope of data due to their quick nature. Ability of questionnaires to capture opinions also makes it suitable for the study that may involve expert opinion in quantification of data. Besides the general advantages of questionnaires, existing questionnaires have the advantage of having been tested and their levels of reliability and validity verified (Thierry, Koopman, & De Gilder, 2013). The previous use of these tools in reviewed studies establishes their reliability and validity for application in the current study. Conducting experiments, which would involve subjecting the children to forms of abuses, and qualitative approaches such as use of interviews and group discussion are the alternative data collection tools. Experiments are suitable for the quantitative scope of the study but they involve cost of treatments, and legal and ethical implications discouraged its use in the current study. Subjecting children or adolescents to abuse is likely to cause harm against principles of beneficence. Group discussions and interviews, however, are better suited for qualitative studies and not the proposed quantitative one (Thierry, Koopman, & De Gilder, 2013).

• • Data collection procedure

Appointments with the sampled children will be arranged at the selected facility. The researcher will meet experts from the facility who will be helping with data collection. Familiarity with the data collection instruments will follow this together with familiarity of possible ethical issues and strategies for handling issues that may arise. The experts, based on interaction with the participants and previous experience with the participants, will collaborate with the subjects in completing the questionnaires. Participants who will demonstrate competence in completing the questionnaires will be left to complete then independently while those who will demonstrate incompetence will be advised on how to complete the forms or the forms will be completed on their behalf. The researcher will assume possession of each completed form immediately after a participant’s session is over. The forms will then be scanned into an electronic system that will capture the data into a spreadsheet.

• • Data analysis

Collected data will be exported into the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Cleaning of the data will then follow for identification of missing or outlier values. The mode for each variable will then be used in places of missing values or outlier values. The mode has been selected because of its independence from existence and magnitude of outlier values, as opposed to the mean and median. Descriptive statistics will then be computed to identify prevalence of forms of child abuse, degree of abuse, effects of the abuses, and degree of significance of the effects. In addition, inferential statistics will be developed to identify possible relationships between the forms of child abuse and identity and degree of effects that child abuse cause. These will inform evaluation of the hypotheses and answering of the research questions.

• • Time frame

The following table shows the main activities in the proposed study and proposed durations for completing them.

Table 1: Proposed activities and durations for the study

Activity

Duration

Preliminary research into background information

Two weeks

Development of research aims, questions, and hypotheses

One week

Development of research proposal

Three weeks

Identification of research location

One day

Sampling

One week

Contacts for informed consent

Two weeks

Selection of final sample

Two days

Contact with experts to be involved in data collection and familiarization with data collection procedure and instruments

Three days

Data collection

Four weeks

Data analysis

One week

Documentation of the report

Two weeks

Dissemination

One day

• • Ethics

Ethical issues are likely to arise from the researcher, involved experts in the data collection process, and the research participants. Conflict of interest is one of the likely factors to dishonesty, especially among the data collection experts. Being members of the chosen facility to which the research participants have been registered, the participants are likely to desire and promote a perception that the facility is effective in managing effects of child abuse in children. They, therefore, are likely to be biased towards capturing and recording lower number and significance of effects of abuse among children who have been registered for long periods. The participants may also desire a positive outlook and report fewer instances of abuse or higher levels of wellbeing. In addition, some of the participants may desire to create an impression of worse conditions than their real conditions. Dishonesty from the researcher is likely at stage for recruiting research participants and data collection experts to ensure availability desirable numbers.

Infringement of personal rights and freedoms is another significant ethical issue and is likely to arise from the researcher. Respect for autonomy is an important ethical principle in research (May & Holmes, 2012) and involves respecting people’s right to self-determination and ability to make independent decisions. Informed consent for participation in the study and autonomy in provision of information during data collection are some of the issues that researcher could undermine. Possible harm to research participants is another likely issue. Though the observational scope of the study is not likely to present physical harm to the children, recapturing their abuse experiences could rekindle effects that the children suffered from their respective abuses.

Ethical principles will be used as guidelines for solving the ethical issues. Ensuring informed consent, autonomy, beneficence, non-malfeasance, and honesty will resolve these concerns. Informing the research participants and the experts of the need for honesty and their moral obligation to be honest, the researcher’s honesty in ensuring informed consent, respect for the participants’ self-determination, and sensitivity to the participants’ emotional and mental stability will ensure that the ethical issues do not arise.

• Evaluation of potential relevance of the study

The study seeks to investigate forms of child abuse, their effects, and moderator factors to their effects. Literature indicates varying results that range from lack of significant difference in effects of the different forms of child abuse to moderator effects of environmental factors on significance of the different forms of child abuse. Expected results relate to significance of effects of the different forms of child abuse and environmental factors that could influence the effects. This identifies significance of the study to policy makers who are responsible for children’s rights and welfare. Identifying a significant difference in incidence rate and degree of effects of the different forms of child abuse will inform policy makers and child welfare agencies on areas that need focus in policy development for preventing child abuse and necessary measures for reducing vulnerability and managing effects of child abuse. The specialized approach is necessary because the general approach has failed to prevent child abuse cases and to manage effects. Similarly, results on moderator effects of environmental factors will be important to policy makers and child welfare agencies for ensuring that abused children can recover from their experiences. Existing literature on effects of the different forms of child abuse is also inconclusive and a directional conclusion will guide researchers, in academic and professional fields, and public opinion on the reality of child abuse in the United Kingdom.

Practitioners who treat affected children are also likely to benefit from the results through developing knowledge the role of a child’s environment on effects of abuse. Associating effectiveness of different environmental factors on effects of different forms abuse will particularly be of interest to the group of stakeholders. Parents and other members of the society such as other relatives and friends are also likely to benefit from the study’s findings through understanding adverse effects of child abuse on the children, for preventive measures, and through understanding of factors that can be used to manage effects of abuse.

A limited sample size, compared to those of similar studies and the limited geographical scope of the study are the major limitations and could have implications on external reliability. A wider geographical consideration and a larger sample are recommended in future related studies.

The results will be disseminated to the institution's websites and will then be made available to any publisher such as news agencies and journal article publishers. These will facilitate dissemination to the public. Use of codes to identify research participants will ensure anonymity and will eliminate associated ethical issues at the dissemination stage. The study, therefore, guarantees significance, feasibility, and ethical compliance.

• Reference list

Armiento, J., et al. (2016) ‘Direct and indirect forms of childhood maltreatment and nonsuicidal self-injury among clinically-referred children and youth.’ The Journal of Affective Disorders, 200, pp. 212-217.

Langevin, R., Hebert, M., & Cossette, L. (2015) ‘Emotional regulation as a mediator of the relationship between sexual abuse and behavior problems in preschoolers.’ The Child Abuse & Neglect, 46, pp. 16-26.

May, A. & Holmes, S. (2012) Introduction to nursing research: Developing research awareness. Boca Raton: CRC Press.

McCcarthy, S. & McCarthy, R. (2014) ‘Body mass index and anxiety/depression as mediators of the effects of child sexual and physical abuse on physical health disorders in women.’ The Child Abuse & Neglect, 38(12), pp. 2007-2020.

The Centres for Disease Control & Prevention. (2016) Child abuse and neglect prevention. 5 March. [Online] [Accessed May 13, 2016] http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/childmaltreatment/.

The National Health Services. (2016) Child sexual abuse. [Online] [Accessed May 13, 2016] http://www.gbv.scot.nhs.uk/gbv/child-sexual-abuse.

The World Health Organization. (2014) Child malnutrition. December. [Online] [ Accessed May 13, 2016] http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs150/en/.

Thierry, H., Koopman, P., & De Gilder, D. (2013) ‘Assessment of Organizational change.’ In Wolff, C., Drenth, P., & Henry, F. (Eds.) A handbook of work and organizational psychology: Volume 4: Organizational psychology. East Sussex: Psychology Press.

Vachoon, D., et al. (2015) ‘Assessment of the harmful psychiatric and behavioral effects of different forms of child maltreatment.’ The JAMA Psychiatry, 72(11), pp. 1135-1142.

Wangel, A., et al. (2015) ‘Emotional, physical, and sexual abuse and the association with symptoms of depression and posttraumatic stress in a multi-ethnic pregnant population in Southern Sweden.’ The Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare, 5(3)., n.p.

Zikmund, W., et al. (2013) Business research methods. (9th Ed.). London: Cengage Learning.