Evaluating the Effects of Child Abuse Training on the Attitudes, Knowledge, and Skills of Police Recruits

Abstract

The objective of the current study was to assess the effects of mandatory child abuse training on the knowledge, skills, and attitudes toward abused children and abusive parents among a sample of police recruits. An experimental pretest-posttest design was used in which 81 participants were randomly assigned to experimental conditions and 101 to comparison conditions. Participants in the experimental group received the mandatory child abuse training while those in the comparison did not. Analysis of covariance results suggest that recruits participating in the experimental group acquired more knowledge, developed more skills, and felt more caring and sympathetic toward abusive parents than recruits in the comparison group. These results are discussed relative to the provision of joint child abuse training as part of a police-social work collaboration model.