Mandatory reporting of child abuse/neglect among substance use counselors

ABSTRACT

Substance use counselors are in a unique position to intervene when exposed to suspected abuse of children. However, mandatory reporting habits of substance use counselors have seen little attention in empirical research. The purpose of this study was to quantify the frequency of mandatory reports of child abuse and/or neglect among substance use counselors. Further, binary and ordinal regression models were used to determine if personal and/or professional characteristics are predictive of reporting frequency. A total of 241 substance use counselors were recruited from national addiction organizations. Results from both the ordinal and binary logistic regressions identified dual-licensure status as a significant positive predictor and a lack of knowledge of the symptoms of child abuse and neglect as a significant negative predictor of reporting behaviors. Given the relationship between reporting habits and knowledge of abuse/neglect, substance use counselors must increase declarative, procedural, and conditional knowledge in order to increase adherence to mandated reporting.

KEYWORDS:

• Child protection
• substance abuse
• counseling
• mandatory reporting
• logistic regression

Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate

This project was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the University of South Dakota. Subjects were provided with a detailed informed consent prior to participation.

Availability of Data and Materials

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare they have no competing interests.

Author’s Contributions

Adam Hardy: Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing – original draft, Writing – Review and Editing; Steven Chesnut: Methodology, Validation, Formal Analysis, Writing – Review and Editing; Kathleen Brown-Rice: Supervision, Writing – Original Draft, Writing – Review and Editing

Additional information

Funding

No outside funding sources were used during the creation of this manuscript.

Notes on contributors

Adam Hardy

Dr. Adam Hardy earned his Ph.D. in Counselor Education from the University of South Dakota in August 2017. He has experience working as a licensed professional counselor, specializing in the domains of sexual assault, domestic violence, criminal rehabilitation, and substance use disorders. His research interests include child abuse/neglect, substance use disorder treatment, traumatic stress, and implementation of theory in counseling.

Steven Chesnut

Dr. Steven Chesnut earned his Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from Texas Tech University in 2015. His research interests include the development and application of statistical techniques in emerging academic fields, teacher development and longevity, and early childhood development and achievement using primary, secondary, and meta data.

Kathleen Brown-Rice

Kathleen Brown-Rice is an associate professor and chair of the Department of Counselor Education at Sam Houston State University. Her clinical work is focused on clients with trauma and comorbid substance use and mental health concerns. She holds credentials as a licensed professional counselor, a licensed clinical addiction specialist, a national certified counselor, and an approved clinical supervisor. She is currently the associate editor of the Journal of Addictions and Offender Counseling