Rationale for the use of the CECA measures as preferred tools for research on the relationship between child abuse/neglect and adult psychopathology. Adriano Schimmenti, Vincenzo Caretti, Francesca Giannone, Loredana Lucarelli Research focusing on the role played by child abuse/neglect in the onset of psychopathology needs a valid and reliable assessment of childhood experiences and relationships: that is, there is the need for a comprehensive understanding of the developmental environment where the child grew up. Although the most used self-report measures on child abuse and neglect may show good psychometric properties, they often fail in such an objective, giving relevant information only on some facets of the childhood experiences of care and abuse. The CECA measures (CECA interview and CECA Questionnaires) permit instead a wider exploration of experiences in infancy, childhood and early adolescence, which can be necessary for the anamnestic assessment in clinical practice, or when research is aimed to look at causal model in psychopathology. The clear definition and appropriate operationalization of childhood risk and resilience factors into the CECA measures allow in fact to discriminate among different experiences without loosing other relevant information on the topic. Some findings from Italy obtained through the use of the CECA measures on normal samples and clinical samples will be discussed. Also, case studies on war refugees and patients with complex childhood trauma and DSM-IV Axis I - Axis II disorders in comorbidity will be presented to show how CECA can help clinical assessment. Statistical analyses on CECA datasets, including the application of Item Response Theory models to the Italian version of the CECA interview and the use of Structural Equation Modelling for testing the effects of child abuse/neglect on adult psychopathology, widely confirm that CECA measures are valid, reliable, and mostly important useful for research and clinical practice.
Rationale for the use of the CECA measures as preferred tools for research on the relationship between child abuse/neglect and adult psychopathology.
LUCARELLI, LOREDANA
2011-01-01
Abstract
Rationale for the use of the CECA measures as preferred tools for research on the relationship between child abuse/neglect and adult psychopathology. Adriano Schimmenti, Vincenzo Caretti, Francesca Giannone, Loredana Lucarelli Research focusing on the role played by child abuse/neglect in the onset of psychopathology needs a valid and reliable assessment of childhood experiences and relationships: that is, there is the need for a comprehensive understanding of the developmental environment where the child grew up. Although the most used self-report measures on child abuse and neglect may show good psychometric properties, they often fail in such an objective, giving relevant information only on some facets of the childhood experiences of care and abuse. The CECA measures (CECA interview and CECA Questionnaires) permit instead a wider exploration of experiences in infancy, childhood and early adolescence, which can be necessary for the anamnestic assessment in clinical practice, or when research is aimed to look at causal model in psychopathology. The clear definition and appropriate operationalization of childhood risk and resilience factors into the CECA measures allow in fact to discriminate among different experiences without loosing other relevant information on the topic. Some findings from Italy obtained through the use of the CECA measures on normal samples and clinical samples will be discussed. Also, case studies on war refugees and patients with complex childhood trauma and DSM-IV Axis I - Axis II disorders in comorbidity will be presented to show how CECA can help clinical assessment. Statistical analyses on CECA datasets, including the application of Item Response Theory models to the Italian version of the CECA interview and the use of Structural Equation Modelling for testing the effects of child abuse/neglect on adult psychopathology, widely confirm that CECA measures are valid, reliable, and mostly important useful for research and clinical practice.
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