Adaptation and validation of the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire-R2 for a national study of child maltreatment in Australia.

BACKGROUND: To establish national prevalence of child maltreatment, reliable, valid and contextually appropriate measurement is needed. This paper outlines the refinement, adaptation and testing of child maltreatment sections of the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire (JVQ)-R2 for use in the Australian context. METHODS: Three phases were undertaken: 1) Conceptual analysis of the five forms of child maltreatment (physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional or psychological abuse, neglect, and experience of domestic violence), item mapping and review, item development, and independent expert review; 2) Cognitive testing with members of the general population, and individuals who have experienced maltreatment; and 3) Pilot testing and quantitative psychometric assessment with a random sample of Australians aged 16-65+ years. RESULTS: The final measure included a total of 17 child maltreatment screener items, assessing Physical Abuse (2 items), Sexual abuse (5 items (including 2 non-contact items and 3 contact items), Emotional Abuse (3 items), Neglect (3 items), and Experience of Domestic Violence (4 items). Screener items were also included on corporal punishment (1 item), and internet sexual victimization (2 items). The final 17-item revised JVQ had high face and conceptual validity and good internal reliability (α = 0.86 and Ω = 0.87). Test re-test reliability was moderate to high for individual screeners ranging from k = 0.45 to 0.89. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire-R2: Adapted Version (Australian Child Maltreatment Study) is a suitable instrument for assessing population-wide prevalence of maltreatment. It is congruent with conceptual models of maltreatment and shows good reliability and validity in this Australian sample.

Technology-Facilitated Domestic Violence Against Immigrant and Refugee Women: A Qualitative Study.

Digital technologies are increasingly being used as tools for the perpetration of domestic violence. Little empirical research to date has explored the nature and impacts of technology-facilitated domestic violence (TFDV), and even less attention has been paid to the experiences of immigrant and refugee women. This article examines the nature and impacts of TFDV as experienced by immigrant and refugee women. Drawing on interviews with 29 victim-survivors and 20 stakeholders, we argue that although immigrant and refugee women may experience TFDV in similar ways to non-immigrant and refugee women, they face unique challenges, such as language barriers, cultural bias from support services, lack of financial resources, lack of trust in state institutions, and additional challenges with justice and migration systems. Immigrant and refugee women also face multiple structural layers of oppression and social inequality. Accordingly, we argue that a multifaceted approach is required to address TFDV that includes culturally sensitive and specific law reform, education, and training.

The Australian Child Maltreatment Study (ACMS): protocol for a national survey of the prevalence of child abuse and neglect, associated mental disorders and physical health problems, and burden of disease.

INTRODUCTION: Child maltreatment (physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, neglect and exposure to domestic violence) is widely understood to be associated with multiple mental health disorders, physical health problems and health risk behaviours throughout life. However, Australia lacks fundamental evidence about the prevalence and characteristics of child maltreatment, its associations with mental disorders and physical health, and the associated burden of disease. These evidence gaps impede the development of public health strategies to better prevent and respond to child maltreatment. The aims of this research are to generate the first comprehensive population-based national data on the prevalence of child maltreatment in Australia, identify associations with mental disorders and physical health conditions and other adverse consequences, estimate attributable burden of disease and indicate targeted areas for future optimal public health prevention strategies. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The Australian Child Maltreatment Study (ACMS) is a nationwide, cross-sectional study of Australia's population aged 16 years and over. A survey of approximately 10 000 Australians will capture retrospective self-reported data on the experience in childhood of all five types of maltreatment (physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, neglect and exposure to domestic violence). A customised, multimodule survey instrument has been designed to obtain information including: the prevalence and characteristics of these experiences; diagnostic screening of common mental health disorders; physical health; health risk behaviours and health service utilisation. The survey will be administered in March-November 2021 to a random sample of the nationwide population, recruited through mobile phone numbers. Participants will be surveyed using computer-assisted telephone interviews, conducted by trained interviewers from the Social Research Centre, an agency with extensive experience in studies of health and adversity. Rigorous protocols protect the safety of both participants and interviewers, and comply with all ethical and legal requirements. Analysis will include descriptive statistics reporting the prevalence of individual and multitype child maltreatment, multiple logistic and linear regression analyses to determine associations with mental disorders and physical health problems. We will calculate the population attributable fractions of these putative outcomes to enable an estimation of the disease burden attributable to child maltreatment. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study has been approved by the Queensland University of Technology Human Research Ethics Committee (#1900000477, 16 August 2019). Results will be published to the scientific community in peer-reviewed journals, scientific meetings and through targeted networks. Findings and recommendations will be shared with government policymakers and community and organisational stakeholders through diverse engagement activities, a dedicated Advisory Board and a systematic knowledge translation strategy. Results will be communicated to the public through an organised media strategy and the ACMS website.