Case Study: Dr. Jones has received funding to develop and test an intervention to prevent child abuse among pregnant wom

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Case Study: Dr. Jones has received funding to
develop and test an intervention to prevent child abuse among
pregnant women in outpatient drug treatment programs. Many current
and recovering substance-abusing women are at risk for abusing
their children due to difficult life circumstances and lack of
personal and financial resources needed to cope with the demands of
a young child.

Prior research has identified economic and psychological factors
associated with child maltreatment, including personal childhood
experiences of maltreatment, poor mental and physical health, lack
of social support, limited education, and limited knowledge of
infant development. Yet, little research has been done to determine
whether child abuse rates can be decreased through intervention
programs with mothers being treated for substance abuse. Dr. Jones
plans to use the Parenting Stress Index and test knowledge of child
development to identify mothers who are at risk of abusing their
children. Those who are at risk would then be randomized to receive
either social work visits alone or the experimental intervention
involving counseling, a brief education program on child
development, and regular social work visits. After six months
control group participants would receive the full experimental
treatment. The social work visits would have two purposes: (1) to
provide additional resources tailored to the participants’ needs
and (2) to look for signs of child abuse and neglect in the home.
The dependent variables are (1) predictors of risk (i.e., scores on
the Parenting Stress Index and knowledge of child development) and
(2) signs of child abuse and neglect.

Dr. Jones mentions in her proposal to the IRB that participants
will be told that the study is a services program designed to
improve parenting skills but their data might be used in a quality
assurance study. She does not want to inform them of the purpose of
the study for fear that they would decline to participate out of
fear that their children could be taken away and because labeling
them as “at risk of abusing their children” is stigmatizing. She
argues that the risks of non-disclosure are far outweighed by the
potential benefits to children.

Case Study Questions: