Development of a screening tool enabling identification of infants and toddlers at risk of family abuse and neglect: a feasibility study from three South European countries.

BACKGROUND: Child abuse is a health and social problem, and few screening instruments are available for the detection of risk in primary health care. The aim was to develop a screening instrument to be used by professionals in the public health care sector, thus enabling the detection of infants and toddlers at risk of emotional and physical abuse and neglect, and to provide evidence for the feasibility of the instrument in Cyprus, Greece and Spain. METHOD: A total of 50 health professionals from paediatric public health-care centres in the three countries were involved in a three-step process for guiding the development of the screening tool and its application. RESULTS: A nine-item screening tool, consisting of items assessing relational emotional abuse, physical abuse and other risk factors, was developed. The screening tool was applied on a total of 219 families with 0 to 3-year-old children attending public health centres in the three countries. Clinicians reported that they agreed on the inclusion of the questions (86.4-100%) and that they found the questions to be useful for the clinical evaluation of the family (63.2-100%). CONCLUSION: The screening tool shows considerable face validity and was reported feasible by an international set of clinicians.