Citation

Starr RH. J. Fam. Violence 1990; 5(4): 311-319.

Affiliation

Psychology Department, University of Maryland Baltimore County, 21228 Baltimore, Maryland

Copyright

(Copyright © 1990, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/BF00979067

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The knowledge base supporting child abuse treatment and prevention rests upon clinical experience and applied research. An analysis of program funding in the United States indicates that unevaluated clinical programs are funded rather than research or program evaluation projects. Grant funding patterns for the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect were analyzed for 4 years. Overall, 66% of projects had no research or evaluation component. Without such programs, we cannot determine the effectiveness of treatment and prevention efforts that, while well intended, may have no effects on the participating parents and children, or, worse still, may have unintended negative consequences. Quality programs must be based on the maintenance of a balance between research and clinical efforts with evaluation being an important component of the latter.