Psychometric Testing and Semantic Validation of Child Abuse Screening Tool in Urdu Language

Child abuse screening tool (CAST) has been used broadly for measuring maltreatment against children. The present study aimed to translate and validate the Child Abuse Screening Tool for two main purposes. Firstly, this scale was translated to use it as a screening tool for the abused children. Secondly, to determine concurrent validity of indigenous Child Abuse Scale (Malik & Shah, 2007) Revision by Malik and Saeed (2014). The Child Abuse Scale Revised was altered to address issues related to child abuse and sexual abuse in educational institutions, home, work place, by relatives, stranagers and servants. The scale was translated using standardized procedure of forward and backward translation. Confirmatory factor analysis was run to examine the factorial structure of Urdu translation of the scale. Convergent and discriminant analysis revealed construct validity of CAST. The results of CFA show adequate model fit; supporting the five factor solution of original scale. Thus, reliability and validity analysis indicated that the Urdu translated CAST scale is a valid and reliable tool for screening abused children in Pakistan.Keywords: abuse, translation, validity, child maltreatment, Urdu

Therapeutic interventions employed when working with maltreated children

A number of effective treatments are available for children and young people who have developed various forms of psychological difficulties as a consequence of traumatic experiences. The aim of this paper is to review the therapeutic approaches employed when working with children who have been exposed to various forms of abuse and neglect during their childhood. This paper provides relevant information to psychotherapists and counsellors on new trends in therapy, as well as techniques and possibilities in interventions in this field, not only with respect to traumatised children, but also family members and other caregivers involved in the child’s life. Furthermore, this paper reviews the therapeutic interventions used to treat emotionally, sexually, and physically abused children, neglected children, children who have witnessed domestic violence, and children who have been exposed to multiple forms of abuse.

Abused Children and their Relationships as Adults

Intimate relationships are not just between lovers, but is also present in parenting as well as the individual’s relationship with the larger family and kin. This article sheds light on those who underwent abuse and have consequently been marked for life and in many areas of their personhood, their ability to relate, and to intimately connect with others.