Rationale and development of a screening instrument for social nurses to identify risks on child abuse and neglect

A preliminary version of a screening instrument to identify early signs of parenting problems related to physical child abuse and neglect is presented. Target group are families with newborn children. The screening will be integrated in the professional activities of social nurses employed by Child and Family (Kind en Gezin), a government agency that is commissioned by law with the promotion of health care and wellbeing of families with young children in the Flemish Community in Belgium. Underlying the instrument's rationale is Belsky's (1980) ecological model of child maltreatment and the pedagogical view on the etiology of child physical abuse and neglect, developed by Baartman (1996). The present version is based on thorough literature reviews and on the analyses of actual narratives by social nurses and social workers. The content of the clusters is described and illustrated by means of concrete items. Finally, the project's future stages are explained. Attention is devoted to research on the instrument's applicability, reliability and validity, as well as to the large-scale implementation and training of social nurses.