SBIR-STTR Award

During Phase 1 of Stop, Look and Listen: Separating Fact from Fiction in Evaluating Cases of Child Abuse: An Interactive Learning Tool for Pediatricians, L.A. Bruell, Inc., in collaboration with Mount Sinai School of Medicine will develop a prototype online learning tool with the specific aims of enhancing the skills of office-based pediatricians in identifying physical abuse, increasing professional confidence in reporting cases of physical abuse, fostering better collaboration with child protection services, and ultimately protecting the child. Based on the findings of the Child Abuse Recognition Experience Study (CARES), the desired outcome of this project is to increase the rate of reporting of cases of child abuse that are likely or highly suspicious. "Reasonable cause," the current standard used for reporting, is open to wide interpretation. The decision of whether or not to report suspected child abuse is a complex and critical one for clinicians. Through the use of this online tool clinicians will be able to simulate this vital decision-making process in the safe environment of self-directed learning with the potential for transformative behavior change. This long-term objective is concordant with the mission of the NIH, particularly the NICHD, to ensure "...that all children have the chance to achieve their full potential for healthy and productive lives." The objectives of Stop, Look and Listen are the following: 1. To develop a sample of cases from which two prototypes may be built exemplifying key decision points in the diagnosis and reporting of child suspected physical abuse 2. To develop an interactive script to guide prototype development 3. To construct the Stop, Look and Listen prototype 4. To test the Stop, Look and Listen prototype in a small sample of practicing pediatricians from three pediatric research networks involved in the CARES project 5. To finalize the prototype based on the pilot testing.

Public Health Relevance:
"Reasonable cause," the current standard used for reporting, is open to wide interpretation. The decision of whether or not to report suspected child abuse is a complex and critical one for clinicians. Through the use of this online tool clinicians will be able to simulate this vital decision-making process in the safe environment of self-directed learning with the potential for transformative behavior change.

Thesaurus Terms:
0-11 Years Old; Accounting; American; Attorneys; Case Study; Certification; Child; Child Abuse; Child Abuse And Neglect; Child Youth; Childhood Abuse; Childhood Maltreatment; Children (0-21); Collaborations; Complex; Decision Making; Development; Diagnosis; Digital Libraries; Ensure; Environment; Evaluation; Fiction (Pt); Fiction [publication Type]; Fictional Works (Pt); Fictional Works [publication Type]; Fostering; Health Care Providers; Health Personnel; Healthcare Providers; Healthcare Worker; Human, Child; In Element; Indium; Laws; Lawyers; Learning; Life; Medical; Mission; Nichd; Nih; National Institute Of Child Health And Human Development; National Institutes Of Health; National Institutes Of Health (U.S.); Nature; Outcome; Pediatric Research; Pediatrics; Phase; Physicians; Police Officer; Primary Care; Primary Health Care; Primary Healthcare; Process; Reporting; Research Resources; Resources; Safety; Sampling; Science; Simulate; Social Service; Social Work; Social Work (Field); Testing; United States; United States National Institutes Of Health; Base; Behavior Change; Case Report; Child Maltreatment; Child Protection; Child Protection Services; Child Protective Service; Children; Experience; Fictional Works; Health Care Personnel; Health Care Worker; Health Provider; Healthcare Personnel; Intervention Design; Maltreatment; Medical Personnel; Medical Schools; Mistreatment; Pediatrician; Physical Abuse; Physical Maltreatment; Prototype; Psychosocial; Public Health Relevance; Skills; Teacher; Therapy Design; Tool; Treatment Design; Treatment Provider; Vigilance; Youngster

Phase II of Stop, Look and Listen (SLL): Separating Fact from Fiction in Evaluating Cases of Child Abuse: an Interactive Learning Tool for Pediatricians seeks to improve the frequency of reporting and accuracy of child abuse assessment and reduce racial bias in reporting of suspected child abuse. The Phase II program will meet the following specific objectives: 1) To expand on the work done in Phase I by the addition of four cases for the development of a total of six cases;2) To identify and seek the interest of a diverse group of professionals for whom SLL would be most valuable;3) To give clinicians guidance with language that can elicit meaningful information in evaluations of suspicious cases;4) To augment the basic case teaching tool with meaningful features such as continuing medical education, maintenance of certification, and easily accessible contact information for State and local child protective services;and, 5) To evaluate the effectiveness of SLL at achieving its learning objectives the expert panel will develop specific teaching points that will support the learning objectives and will be the basis for checks on learning. The coupling of clinical decision support methods, adult learning principles with innovative technology will provide the simulated environment to improve clinician practice in the challenging field of child maltreatment.

Public Health Relevance:
The alarming rate of child maltreatment and deaths in the United States resulting from child abuse and underreporting by physician mandated reporters speak to the urgent need for educational curricula that address not only the knowledge but the skills and affective components of child abuse reporting. The Stop, Look, and Listen project will improve outcomes for abused children by providing an online teaching tool that enhances the skills of pediatric practitioners in identifying cases of physical abuse and increases professional comfort (through modeling of effective communication) in reporting cases of physical abuse.