This research discusses child abuse in the family. Child abuse is found to be prevalent in the United States, with effects demonstrated for both the child and the family. Families at risk are identified. Nurse home visitation is considered for the prevention of child maltreatment. Nurses are viewed as knowledgeable and able to gain safe entry into the family environment.
In 1987, there were 2,178,000 reported cases of suspected child abuse and neglect in the United States; many other cases go unreported. Research shows that maltreated children are affected physically, socially, cognitively, and emotionally. Families with physical abuse or neglect are at high risk for repeated maltreatment. In a national child abuse program evaluation, of 1,724 families studied, 30 percent were reported to severely abuse or neglect their child during treatment; in a second evaluation, more than 50 percent of the adults were judged likely to mistreat their children in the future. Although both these studies lack comparison groups and unbiased outcome measures, findings support that the recurrence of child maltreatment is a major problem (MacMillan & Thomas, 1993).
Parents prone to abuse have been shown to lack appropriate knowledge of child-rearing, and they have abnormal expectations of their children; they lack an understanding of their relationship with infants. Parents lack parent coping and stress management skills. Abused children receive inappropriate nutrition and hygiene and lack cognitive, emotional, and social development (MacMillan & Thomas, 1993; Wasik & Roberts, 1994). Child maltreatment results in deteriorated caregiving and an unsafe home environment, multiple physician visits for injuries and injestions, and emergency department encounters (Olds, Henderson, Kitzman, & Cole, 1995).
Home visits demonstrate that child neglect results in hazardous homes: chipped or flaking paint; sharp objects such as broken glass, ...