title: A scale for home visiting nurses to identify risks of physical abuse and neglect among mothers with newborn infants.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim was to construct and test the reliability (utility, internal consistency, interrater agreement) and the validity (internal validity, concurrent validity) of a scale for home visiting social nurses to identify risks of physical abuse and neglect in mothers with a newborn child.
  
  
  METHODS
  A 71-item scale was constructed based on a literature review and focus group sessions with social nurses and paraprofessionals who had experience with underprivileged families. This scale was applied in a random sample of 40 home visiting social nurses, who collected data in a sample of 373 nonabusive and 18 abusive/neglectful mothers with a newborn child.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Items with prevalence rates below 5% and items making no significant difference between maltreating and non-maltreating mothers were omitted. The final version contained 20 items. This scale showed high internal consistency (alpha = .92) and high interrater reliability (r = .97). Exploratory factor analysis yielded a three-factor solution: Isolation (8 items, explaining 62.17% of the common variance), Psychological complexity (6 items, 18.86%), and Communication problems (6 items, 8.41%). Scores on Communication problems and Isolation significantly predicted scores on a social deprivation scale, which significantly distinguished maltreating from non-maltreating mothers. Mothers scoring high on Communication problems or Isolation obtained higher scores for social deprivation than low-scoring mothers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Home visiting nurses can identify risks for physical abuse and neglect among mothers with a newborn infant by focusing on signs of social isolation, distorted communication and psychological problems.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Disability, Special Needs Education, and Child Care, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Vesaliusstraat 2, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Grietens
authors.forename: Liesl
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Geeraert
authors.forename: Walter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hellinckx
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001530:Belgium; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003152:Community Health Nursing / Q000379:methods*; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006699:Home Care Services; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007224:Infant Care; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010555:Personality Inventory; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000145:classification; D012307:Risk Factors; D012944:Social Support