Armita Atabaki

Non-verbal behavior of children who disclose or do not disclose child abuse in investigative interviews

OBJECTIVE The study focused on childrens nonverbal behavior in investigative interviews exploring suspicions of child abuse. The key aims were to determine whether non-verbal behavior in the pre-substantive phases of the interview predicted whether or not children would disclose the alleged abuse later in the interview and to identify differences in the nonverbal behaviors of disclosing and non-disclosing children. METHOD We studied DVD-recorded interviews of 40 alleged victims of child abuse. In all cases, there was external evidence strongly suggesting that abuse had occurred. However, half of the children disclosed abuse when interviewed using the NICHD Investigative Interview Protocol, whereas the other half did not. Two raters, unaware whether or not the children disclosed, independently coded the videotapes for nonverbal indices of positive and negative emotions, stress, and physical disengagement in each 15-second unit of the introductory, rapport building, and substantive interview phases. RESULTS Indicators of stress and physical disengagement increased as the interviews progressed while indices of positive emotions decreased. Non-disclosers showed proportionately more physical disengagement than disclosers in both the introductory and substantive phases. CONCLUSIONS Awareness of non-verbal behavior may help investigators identify reluctant children early in forensic interviews. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS There is substantial evidence that, when questioned by investigators, many children do not disclose that they have been abused. The early detection of reluctance to disclose may allow interviewers to alter their behavior, helping the children overcome their reluctance by providing non-suggestive support before the possibility of abuse is discussed. Of course, nonverbal behavior alone should not be used to assess children in investigative interviews. However, nonverbal cues may nonetheless provide additional information to interviewers and assist them in identifying reluctant children.

Implementing an Inpatient Social Early Warning System for Child Maltreatment

Objectives: The current article describes the process evaluation of a social early warning system (SEWS) for the prevention of child maltreatment in the federal state of Hamburg. This prevention initiative targets expectant mothers and their partners including an initial screening of risk factors for child maltreatment, a subsequent structured clearing interview further exploring risks and identifying protective factors and an optional referral to the regional health and social care system. Method: The process evaluation was conducted by examining the flow of participants through the different stages of the SEWS as well as asking social education workers, parents, and regional institutions about their satisfaction with the process of the SEWS. Results: The participation rate throughout the SEWS as well as the satisfaction rates were high. Conclusions: The SEWS is a secondary prevention initiative with a substantial difference to other early prevention initiatives, as it aims to facilitate intervention rather than providing it.

Are experiences of sexual violence related to special needs in patients with substance use disorders? A study in opioid-dependent patients

A history of sexual violence has been related to more complex treatment needs in patients with substance use disorders (SUD). Most of the existing studies, however, included patients with various types of SUD, did not examine gender differences and focused on a small range of clinical domains. Our sample consisted of opioid-dependent outpatients treated during a three-year period in a German metropolitan region. The analysis was based on a local case register and included all patients for whom information on lifetime sexual violence was available (N=3531; 68.3% males). In a case-control design, patients with a history of sexual violence were compared to patients without these experiences regarding a wide range of clinical and social factors indicative of potential needs. Almost two thirds (65.6%) of the female patients and 10.9% of the males reported experiences of sexual violence. Victims differed from non-victims across a variety of domains, including more psychiatric symptoms and suicide attempts, more legal problems, financial and family problems, as well as a higher use of services. In contrast to a previous study among alcohol-dependent patients, no gender differences became apparent. Our findings suggest that experiences of sexual violence are an indicator for more complex needs in opioid-dependent patients of both genders. In addition to integrated trauma-informed approaches, an effort needs to be made to link addiction facilities to further institutions to meet these complex needs.

Behavioural and structural prevention to promote the health of socially disadvantaged children and adolescents: an overview of European and German health promotion strategies

IntroductionChildhood and adolescence are significant phases in life,characterized by many physical and psychosocial changes.Diseases and health related attitudes during these sensitivestages of life have a significant and lifelong impact, not onlyon health issues, but also on the overall development (Kuhand Ben-Schlohmo 2005; Power and Kuh 2006). The earlyexperience of health inequalities is a major risk factor forchildren’s and adolescents’ further health development.Thus, the early and efficient prevention of ill-health behav-iours (behavioural prevention) and in relevant social settings(structural prevention) among children and young people,particularly those who are socially disadvantaged, is crucial.Social disadvantage in GermanyDefining social disadvantage is complicated. While somedefinitions emphasize meeting the mental and physical basicneeds (Biermann and Rutzel 1999), others focus on powerand social discrimination (Iben 1997). Most empirical stud-ies, however, define social disadvantage by the socioeco-nomic status.In Germany, life expectancy and quality of life are heavi-ly dependent on income, level of education and occupation(Lampert and Kroll 2010). Differences in income and theproportion of poor people in Germany have increased morerapidly in recent years than in most other ‘Organisation forEconomic Cooperation and Development (OECD)’countries (Organisation for Economic Cooperation andDevelopment 2008). The OECD country comparison(2008) has also shown that social disadvantage and povertyhave become less of a problem for the elderly, but increas-ingly for young people and young families. Gebken (2005)accordingly found that social disadvantage and povertyoccur particularly in young families with several children,with just one parent earning an income, with single parentsand in migrant families.Data from the Socioeconomic Panel (SOEP) in 2008showed that 21% of 13–18-year olds are under particularthreat of poverty. By comparison, the rate for the population

The Influence of Performance-Based Group Status on Individual Performance via Task Attention

While performance-based status was found to positively influence individual level performance among dyads, little is known about how this effect occurs. We examined the effect of performance-based ...