Understanding practitioners' characteristics and perspectives prior to the dissemination of an evidence-based intervention

Abstract

Objectives: To describe the characteristics and repertoires of community practitioners serving families involved in child physical abuse that may inform training and treatment dissemination efforts. The aims are to: (a) describe the background characteristics of these clinicians; (b) document their most common intervention techniques; (c) examine clinicians' attitudes toward manualized treatment; and (d) understand the organizational climate of community agencies.

Method: Practitioners from nine different agencies who have worked with cases in which there was child physical abuse (n=77) completed focus group discussions and three self-report questionnaires. Qualitative and quantitative analyses were conducted in tandem.

Results: Practitioners reported that they most often focused on family issues and employed family therapy techniques. Although treatment manuals were important, it was difficult to determine how practitioners used or would use these materials with families. An almost equal number of concerns and benefits were raised regarding using manuals in treatment. There was moderate agreement in how practitioners perceived their work environments. Age and attainment of a graduate degree were positively related to greater caring and job satisfaction, respectively, while length of time at a given agency was positively related to greater reports of emotional exhaustion on a measure of organizational climate.

Conclusions: Given the promising benefits of evidence-based treatments for child abuse, it is important that researchers begin to form partnerships with community agencies that will lead to the dissemination and evaluation of effective treatment strategies.