Date of Award

2015

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

School Psychology

Abstract

This study sought to explore the training opportunities, knowledge, confidence in intervening, reporting behaviors, and types of supervision received and given in the areas of child maltreatment and mandated reporting by practicing school psychologists. Little is known about school psychologists' knowledge of child maltreatment and specific mandates about reporting suspicions of abuse or how to appropriately respond to disclosures of abuse (Arbolino et al., 2008). Given school psychologists' unique role in schools working directly with children, it is not uncommon for school psychologists to either suspect maltreatment is occurring or to hear a disclosure of maltreatment directly from a student. Thus, it is important all school-based professionals, especially school psychologists, are trained to identify children who may be experiencing child maltreatment and are knowledgeable of and competent in the process of mandated reporting. This study employed mixed methodology. First, participants' decisions and rationales to report or not report potential child maltreatment as presented in the vignettes were qualitatively coded. Additionally, the levels of confidence described were also coded. This coding allowed the researcher to assess participants' knowledge of child maltreatment definitions and specific behaviors in addition to the overall confidence participants have in their decision-making as mandated reporters.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

Download

Share

COinS