This study examined differences in developmental problems between children who were victims of two child maltreatment dimensions: abuse versus neglect, and physical versus emotional maltreatment. Family demographics and developmental problems were examined in a clinical sample of 146 Dutch children from families involved in a Multisystemic Therapy – Child Abuse and Neglect treatment trajectory. No differences were found in child behavior problems within the dimension abuse versus neglect. However, more externalizing behavior problems (e.g., aggressive problems) were found in children who experienced physical maltreatment compared to children who experienced emotional maltreatment. Further, more behavior problems (e.g., social problems, attention problems, and trauma symptoms) were found in victims of multitype maltreatment compared to victims of any single-type maltreatment. The results of this study increase the understanding of the impact of child maltreatment poly-victimization, and highlight the value of classifying child maltreatment into physical and emotional maltreatment.

Personalization is an important strategy for enhancing the effectiveness of treatment that is aimed at reducing the risk of child maltreatment. In recent years, a growing body of research has appeared on how child protection can benefit from the principles of the Risk-Need-Responsivity model, but no attention has yet been paid to the implementation of the responsivity principle in child protection. Put simply, this principle states that treatment must be tailored to individual characteristics of clients to optimize its effectiveness. This study was the first to address how the responsivity principle can be of value in child protection. First, a systematic review of responsivity factors in forensic care was performed. Second, the relevance of applying each factor in child protection was examined through interviews with clinical professionals working in the field, who also provided suggestions on how treatment can be tailored to each of these factors. This resulted in an overview of seven responsivity factors all related to caregiver characteristics: problem denial, motivation to cooperate with treatment, psychological problems, cognitive abilities, cultural background, practical barriers such as financial problems and social support, and barriers to specific treatment types such as group therapy. Implications and recommendations for strengthening clinical practice are discussed.

Studies on child maltreatment prevention programs show that the effects of these programs are rather small. Drawing on the need principle of the Risk–Need–Responsivity model, program effects may be enhanced by properly assessing all the needs of individual families involved in child protection so that programs can be adapted to those needs. Recently, a needs assessment tool (ARIJ-Needs) has been developed in the Netherlands to support child protection practitioners in not only the assessment of treatment needs in individual families, but also in selecting the program(s) and/or intervention(s) that best target those needs. This study assessed the clinical value and usability of ARIJ-Needs by interviewing Dutch child protection practitioners (N = 15). A vignette describing a child protection case was used to examine differences between needs assessments based on unstructured clinical judgment (i.e., without using the assessment tool), and structured clinical judgment in which the assessment tool was used. The results showed that significantly more treatment needs were identified when ARIJ-Needs was used relative to clinical judgment in which ARIJ-Needs was not used. Specifically, needs related to parenting, the parent(s), and the family were identified more often when the assessment tool was used. This is an important finding, as these needs comprise the (changeable) risk factors that are most predictive of child maltreatment and should be addressed with priority to prevent child maltreatment. This study shows that ARIJ-Needs supports practitioners in assessing relevant needs in families at risk for child maltreatment. Study implications and recommendations for improvement of the ARIJ-Needs are discussed.

Although many studies have concluded that men and women engage in domestic violence at equal levels, existing studies have hardly focused on gender specific risk factors for domestic violence perpetration. Therefore, this study aimed to examine gender differences in criminogenic risk factors between Dutch male and female forensic outpatients who were referred to forensic treatment for domestic violence. Clinical structured assessments of criminogenic risk factors were retrieved for 366 male and 87 female outpatients. Gender differences were not only found in the prevalence and interrelatedness of criminogenic risk factors, but also in associations between criminogenic risk factors and treatment dropout. In men, risk factors related to the criminal history, substance abuse, and criminal attitudes were more prevalent than in women, whereas risk factors related to education/work, finances, and the living environment were more prevalent in women. Further, having criminal friends, having a criminal history, and drug abuse were associated with treatment dropout in men, whereas a problematic relationship with family members, housing instability, a lack of personal support, and unemployment were associated with treatment dropout in women. Finally, network analyses revealed gender differences in risk factor interrelatedness. The results provide important insights into gender specific differences in criminogenic risk factors for domestic violence, which support clinical professionals in tailoring treatment to the specific needs of male and female perpetrators of domestic violence.

This meta-analysis aimed to re-examine the available evidence on the effectiveness of the risk, need, and responsivity principles of the RNR model in family interventions for juvenile delinquency. As previous reviews did not examine these principles fully in line with their original definitions, this review aimed to improve the coding of the RNR principles and to re-evaluate their association with intervention effectiveness. A three-level meta-analysis of k  =  31 studies reporting on 71 effect sizes revealed an overall small and significant intervention effect ( d  =  0.382, p < .001). Although larger effects were found for interventions adhering to any of the RNR principles, none of the RNR principles significantly moderated overall intervention effectiveness. Interventions specifically targeting antisocial recreational activities, and interventions taking into account the youth's age and cultural background did significantly increase overall effectiveness. The results reveal that strong and convincing empirical support for the RNR principles is not yet available, which can mainly be explained by limitations in the design of primary studies on the RNR principles and intervention effectiveness. Suggestions are offered to improve the quality of both primary and secondary research that is needed for establishing a better empirical evidence for the widely acknowledged RNR model.