Training competent psychologists in the field of child maltreatment

Child maltreatment is a serious threat to children's physical and psychological well-being; therefore, it is critically important to develop high-quality educational programs to train psychologists in effectively addressing child abuse and neglect. Various health care disciplines and areas within the field of psychology have established competencies as a guide for student training curricula; however, none have been established for the area of child maltreatment. The present article presents training competencies for the field of child maltreatment that have been developed from a program designed to train psychology graduate students to practice and conduct research in child maltreatment. The competencies have been divided into eight core areas including assessment, treatment, multidisciplinary collaboration, advocacy, ethics, research, research ethics, and professional development.