Child maltreatment is a public health crisis that assaults the most vulnerable in our society. Unfortunately, its victims have not fully benefitted from evidence-driven legislative action to the same extent as other serious public health issues (e.g., smoking, obesity). To increase reliance on child maltreatment research for policy and practice, the field requires a national hub to actively: (1) translate scientific findings, (2) engage end-users, and (3) package key messages into high-impact communication products. The Translational Center for Child Maltreatment Studies' Dissemination and Outreach Core (DOC) will develop such models to serve this role, thus incubating solutions to overcome systemic barriers and accelerating dissemination.
DOC Aim 1 is to translate research findings produced by TCCMS investigators into scientific leverage for guiding public investments in child protection. This will involve using unprecedented access to multiple administrative record systems to map the fiscal cost of child maltreatment across service systems. Building on this, the DOC will link Project 1's PA Cohort with administrative records to develop models for predicting downstream public costs (e.g., healthcare, crime social service). With this unique data infrastructure, the DOC will be able to evaluate the return-on-investment from strategies to detect, treat, and prevent child maltreatment?including the Clinical Decision Rule (CDR) for Abusive Head Trauma tested in Project 2. This strategic focus on quantifying public and private costs will frame child maltreatment prevention and treatment as not only a key public health issue, but a matter of fiscal responsibility.
DOC Aim 2 will employ a Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR) Model in two powerful demonstration projects: (1) to devise and test workable solutions that will facilitate implementation of new child welfare laws; and (2) to develop data-driven solutions to reduced caseworker turnover. This model will serve as a national resource for the dissemination of evidence-based tools, and will assist the many states similar to PA where massive child welfare reform has occurred without appropriation of essential resources to assist implementation. Finally, DOC Aim 3 will package the scientific leverage and innovative solutions developed in Aims 1 & 2 into communications that resonate deeply with end-users and policy-makers. This will include a policy brief series to provide empirically-driven guidance around detection, treatment, and prevention of child maltreatment. Through this work, the DOC will provide the foundation of the TCCMS Research-to-Policy Bridge and develop a national model for accelerating the dissemination of scientific knowledge and strategies for evidence-based policy and practice.
| Kugler, Kari C; Guastaferro, Kate; Shenk, Chad E et al. (2018) The effect of substantiated and unsubstantiated investigations of child maltreatment and subsequent adolescent health. Child Abuse Negl : |
| Hymel, Kent P; Wang, Ming; Chinchilli, Vernon M et al. (2018) Estimating the probability of abusive head trauma after abuse evaluation. Child Abuse Negl 88:266-274 |
| Noll, Jennie G; Guastaferro, Kate; Beal, Sarah J et al. (2018) Is Sexual Abuse a Unique Predictor of Sexual Risk Behaviors, Pregnancy, and Motherhood in Adolescence? J Res Adolesc : |
| Crowley, Max; Jones, Damon (2017) Valuing Our Communities: Ethical Considerations for Economic Evaluation of Community-Based Prevention. Am J Community Psychol 60:309-315 |
