Primary prevention of child abuse.

Following a discussion of the ecological theory base for the study and design of child abuse prevention programs, the authors examine 3 categories of primary programs: competency enhancement, preventing the onset of abusive behavior, and targeting high-risk groups. Programs that enhance competencies of families focus on parent skills, child development information, and coping strategies to reduce stress. Programs that prevent the onset of abusive behavior involve media campaigns; information, crisis, and referral services; and social networks at the community and neighborhood levels. Programs that target high-risk groups (e.g., low-SES, single parents, complicated pregnancies) focus on therapeutic strategies. Methodological problems in evaluating child abuse prevention include the lack of appropriate comparison groups, poor choice of outcome measures, and the failure to measure proximal programmatic objectives and distal prevention goals. (50 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)