Associate Provost for Research Boston University Medical Campus
NICHD - National Institute of Child Health & Human Development	Research Resources

Abstract

Abstract: DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant):The goal of this project is to create an innovative survey tool that will be used to evaluate hospital-based, multidisciplinary child protection teams (CRT). CRTs were proposed as a useful approach to the management of abused children 30 years ago. Since then, many CRTs have formed on an institutional level and serve as a local resource of expertise in child abuse. A sample of 88 teams, identified in the largest cohort of CRTs published to date, primarily consisted of physicians and social workers who provided child abuse consultative services. Despite the financial, institutional, and human resources invested in them, CRTs have been formed primarily locally and in isolation from other teams. Little is known about what comprises a high quality CRT or how to assess their quality. Specific Aim 1: To use a Delphi Process involving 20 practitioners from primary care medicine, child abuse medicine, social work, and the child protective services to define the content of a survey to be used to describe and categorize child protection teams (CRT) and to predict the quality of CRTs. Specific Aim 2: To conduct a pilot test of the effectiveness of this CRT tool at 10 different CRTs in order to establish the reliability of the tool. Specific Aim 3: To develop an R01 proposal that will validate the CRT tool at a sample of 20 CRTs. This project is important because it is the first to create an innovative research tool to study child protection teams. Teams are complex in their dynamic and function, making comparison of performance between teams challenging. We will utilize the theories of a well-accepted model of team effectiveness and apply them to the unique characteristics of CRTs. At the conclusion of this study, we will have created a survey tool that can be used to measure, in a standardized fashion, specific characteristics of CRTs important to team effectiveness. This will allow for comparison of teams based upon important core characteristics. Ultimately, we will be able to identify which characteristics of CRTs are critical to the success of these teams.

Thesaurus Terms:
child abuse, child welfare, data collection methodology /evaluation, health care service evaluation, injury prevention, violence prevention
performance, primary care physician, social service
behavioral /social science research tag, clinical research, health services research tag, human subject

Institution:	BOSTON MEDICAL CENTER
	ONE BOSTON MEDICAL CENTER PLACE
	BOSTON, MA 02118
Fiscal Year:	2006
Department:
Project Start:	19-AUG-2005
Project End:	31-JUL-2007
ICD:	NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CHILD HEALTH AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
IRG:	CHHD