Haas Stephen M, Bauer-Leffler Simon, Turley Erica
West Virginia Office of Research and Strategic Planning, USA.
J Health Hum Serv Adm. 2011 Winter;34(3):352-86.
The co-occurrence of child abuse and domestic violence has gained increasing attention over the last several years. As a result, there have been a number of efforts around the country to cross-train domestic violence and child welfare workers. Many of these initiatives are based on recommendations derived from prior research which emphasizes the importance of cross training child welfare workers, domestic violence advocates, and others in order to enhance interagency collaborations and ultimately improve the handling of co-occurrence cases. Using a survey design and two samples of child protective service (CPS) workers were drawn, this paper evaluates the effectiveness of a statewide initiative to improve inter-agency collaboration through a series of cross-disciplinary trainings. Special attention is also given to the identification of barriers and their potential role in shaping collaboration. While this study did not find significant changes in CPS workers' knowledge, attitudes, or self-reported levels of collaboration overall as a result of the training, collaboration was found to be related to increased knowledge and positive attitudes toward collaboration post training. The findings further demonstrate that efforts to cross-train staff can change the way CPS workers view the presence of some barriers to collaboration. Implications for future research and strategies for enhancing inter-agency collaboration in co-occurrence cases are discussed.
在过去几年里，儿童虐待与家庭暴力的并发问题日益受到关注。因此，全国各地开展了多项工作，对家庭暴力和儿童福利工作者进行交叉培训。其中许多举措是基于先前研究得出的建议，这些研究强调对儿童福利工作者、家庭暴力倡导者及其他人员进行交叉培训的重要性，以便加强机构间合作，并最终改善对并发案件的处理。本文采用调查设计，抽取了两组儿童保护服务（CPS）工作者样本，评估了一项全州范围内通过一系列跨学科培训来改善机构间合作的举措的有效性。同时，还特别关注障碍的识别及其在塑造合作方面的潜在作用。虽然本研究并未发现培训后CPS工作者的知识、态度或自我报告的总体合作水平有显著变化，但发现合作与培训后知识的增加以及对合作的积极态度有关。研究结果进一步表明，对工作人员进行交叉培训的努力可以改变CPS工作者看待某些合作障碍的方式。本文还讨论了对未来研究的启示以及在并发案件中加强机构间合作的策略。
