Main Concern Of Inter Observer Reliability example essay topic

The study of inter observer reliability tested the level of agreement among child welfare workers on the presence or absence of emotional abuse and several other forms of neglect and child abuse. Contrary to expectations, soaring levels of accurate identification and agreement was attained. Regardless of the high level of inter observer reliability, the validity of the notion is questioned. Training for the sample used in the study is evidently effective.

Inter observer reliability is one of the dominant issues facing child protective service workers. Its importance escalates as the signs of the neglect or abuse become more abstract and less obvious. The main concern of inter observer reliability is if multiple observers concur on the presence or absence of a particular happening. The level of agreement will be overwhelmingly affected by the transparency of the definitions of abuse and neglect and the extent to which staff are trained in their application. At least one other study raised concerns about this issue because it applies to various aspects of child protective services information processing and definition.

A national organization has been formed to fight false accusations called "VOCAL" (Victims of Child Abuse Laws). In the early phases of the child protective services movement, physical abuse was their main concern. Decades later other types of abuse with unclear indicators have come to prominence, such as emotional abuse and neglect. Emotional abuse and neglect are abstract concepts and provide the basis for concern as to whether child protective service workers can always identify them with given common information, especially when they are among other forms of abuse and neglect. There are problems in defining emotional abuse and neglect, just as there are problems in defining any type of child maltreatment.

The definition of child maltreatment should include only seriously harmful behaviors and outcomes. Protective policies and systems should be utilized only to enforce societal sanctions, not to enforce ideal standards of care giving. Psychological maltreatment of children and youth consists of acts of omission and commission, which are judge on the basis of a combination of community standards and professional expertise to be psychologically damaging. Individuals commit such acts, singly or collectively, who by their characteristics (knowledge, status, or organizational form) are in a position of differential power that renders a child's vulnerability. Such acts damage immediately or ultimately the behavioral, cognitive, affective, or physical functioning of the child.

Another approach to defining emotional abuse and neglect is to indicate outcomes of this form of maltreatment. Examples include habit and conduct disorders, neurotic traits, psychoneurotic reactions, behavior extremes, overly adaptive behavior, lags, and attempted suicide. The list goes on to exhaust almost every conceivable non-normal condition possible for children and adolescents. Other examples include poor appetite, lying and stealing, low self-esteem and negative self-concept, emotional instability, reduced emotional responsiveness, inability to become independent, incompetence, and underachievement, inability to trust others, failure to thrive and withdrawal.