Toward development and validation of a child maltreatment pictorial card tool

Abstract

The study introduces the Child Maltreatment Pictorial Cards (CMPC) comprising 26 cards: 15 depict child maltreatment (CM) forms, and 11 cards illustrate positive situations. A total of 102 participants (age range 6–17 years) – 63 abused children and 39 non-abused controls – were recruited following ethical approval. Convergent and discriminant validities were established by using the Medical Somatic Dissociation Questionnaire and child history files. Known-group validity was achieved by comparing study variables, experiences, and memory recall disclosed through the pictorial cards. The findings revealed significant differences between the groups: abused children reported more negative experiences associated with memories and higher misperceptions of positive situations than controls.