Biomedical subjects

Carol Coohey

Publications and source records attributed to Carol Coohey.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Physically abusive fathers and risk assessment.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to identify factors that predict recidivism among families in which the father is the perpetrator of physical abuse and to compare these factors to the factors that investigators believe are related to higher risk. METHOD: A case-comparison design was used to understand risk among 137 predominantly Caucasian families in which a father had injured a child. RESULTS: The multivariate analysis showed that families in which the father was unemployed (greater time at risk), had younger children, was not the biological father of all of the children, did not take responsibility for his behavior, seriously injured a child, and maltreated a child in the past were more likely to re-abuse. These factors, along with whether the mother had a criminal history, correctly predicted recurrence for 83% of the families. The investigators correctly predicted recurrence for 70% of the families. CONCLUSIONS: The investigators placed too much emphasis on some variables that were not related to recurrence, such as the mother's mental health and whether she tried to protect her children. These results may be useful in adapting assessment systems that do not take into consideration the gender of the perpetrator.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

The role of men in chronic supervisory neglect.

This study investigates whether parents' child care demand and resources, their capacity to provide adequate supervision, and their understanding of the supervision problem predict chronic supervisory neglect. A case-comparison design was used to compare families who had one isolated incident of supervisory neglect, who were involved with child protective services (CPS) because of a persistent supervision problem (2 years or less), and who were involved with CPS because of a chronic supervision problem (more than 2 years). When the mother's partner was not the father of her children or had a drug, alcohol, or mental health challenge, and when no one understood that there was a supervision problem or took responsibility for it, the problem was more likely to persist or become chronic. Therefore, when predicting whether a family will continue to provide inadequate supervision, it is important to also assess the mother's partner.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

How child protective services investigators decide to substantiate mothers for failure-to-protect in sexual abuse cases.

The purpose of this study was to determine how Child Protective Services (CPS) investigators decide to substantiate mothers for failure-to-protect from sexual abuse. A case-comparison study was used to compare 31 mothers who were and 62 mothers who were not substantiated for failure-to-protect by CPS. The multivariate analysis showed that mothers who did not consistently believe the sexual abuse occurred and who did not consistently act protectively were more likely to be substantiated. In addition, if they knew about the abuse from more than one source were less supportive of the children; and had a substance abuse problem, a mental health problem or were being battered, then they were more likely to be substantiated. Investigators appear to apply criteria consistently to substantiate mothers. doi:10.1300/J070v15n04_04.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Battered mothers who physically abuse their children.

The purpose of this study is to understand why some battered mothers physically abuse their children. Mothers who were battered and physically abused their children (the co-occurrence group) were compared with mothers who were neither battered nor physically abused, who were only battered, and who only abused (N = 184). The mothers in the co-occurrence group were more likely than the mothers who did not physically abuse their children to have been severely assaulted by their own mothers as children, have had poorer quality relationships with and receive less support from their mothers, have more stressors, and have known their partners for less time. These differences were not found between the mothers in the co-occurrence and abuse-only groups. In the multivariate analysis, having been assaulted by one's own mother as a child--not being battered by one's partner--was the most potent predictor for whether a mother physically abused her child.

Aggression↗

PubMed2003

Making judgments about risk in substantiated cases of supervisory neglect.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine which factors were used by investigators to determine level of risk among substantiated cases of supervisory neglect. The conceptual model included three sets of factors-the severity of the supervision problem, characteristics of the mother (e.g., prior involvement with child protective services (CPS), motivation, substance use) and characteristics of the investigator-as potential explanations for increased risk. METHODS: A case-control design was used to compare 113 mothers whose names were placed on the child abuse registry for substantiated supervisory neglect (higher risk) with 45 mothers whose names were not placed on the registry but who had a substantiated report of supervisory neglect (lower risk). Two readers coded every investigative report. RESULTS: Five out of 14 of the predictors had a unique effect on the investigator's assessment of higher risk in the multivariate analysis: a child was harmed, the mother did not take responsibility for the problem, there was no extenuating circumstance, she was being battered, and she had prior involvement with CPS. There was also an interaction between being battered and the type of supervision problem. When a mother failed to protect her child from a third party, being battered decreased the likelihood that the investigator would place the mother's name on the state's registry. CONCLUSION: More research is needed on specific types of supervision problems to develop a risk assessment instrument for supervisory neglect. Without one, it is difficult to see how investigators and others can be expected to know whether a child is likely to be harmed in the future.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Defining and classifying supervisory neglect.

The purpose of this study is to develop and test a classification system for different types of supervision problems. Several prominent child maltreatment typologies were reviewed to determine the level of definitional agreement between systems; identify strengths and weaknesses within systems; and derive a consensual definition of child neglect, its major subcategories (physical, supervisory, and emotional), and 10 types of supervisory neglect. Six hundred two substantiated child abuse and neglect reports were used to test the systems interrater reliability. The interrater reliability was excellent for most types of problems. Not watching a child closely enough (29.8% of the reports) made up the largest single type of supervisory neglect, followed by leaving a child alone without a caretaker (24.5%) and leaving a child with an unsuitable caretaker (19.7%). The article concludes with a discussion on how and in what context the system can be used.

Caregivers↗