Social Work and Child Maltreatment
Intervention in Disney Animated
Feature Films: 1937–2006
In this paper I plan to analyse and critique the research article “Social Work and Child Maltreatment Intervention in Disney Animated Feature Films: 1997-2006.” by Hubka, Tonmyr and Hovdestad (2009). This study was in accordance with the criteria set out in the U.S. National Incidence Study (NIS) of Child Abuse and Neglect (Sedlak, Mettenburg, Basena, Petta, McPherson, Greene, and Li, 2010).
I plan to briefly summarise the aim of the study and its methods, then discuss its findings and the values and ethical considerations that characterizes this research article.
Aim:
The research shown aims to compare the maltreatment of children within Disney films over nine years (1997-2006). The main concern was whether the children were maltreated by meeting the criteria set out in the U.S. National Incidence Study (NIS) of Child Abuse and Neglect (Sedlak et al. 2010).
The authors have appeared to place great value on the professional codes of ethics and standards of practise for Social Workers under the US National Association of Social Workers (NASW, 2008). This is presented in their focus on the films showing interventions or resolutions for child maltreatment, how the social worker is characterized, how the actions of a social worker compare with real world professional ethics and standards. It appears there are similar themes addressed in this study as well as other studies which can be compared.
Methods:
The researcher used the information developed in the US National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect to measure the incidents reported to social workers and child protection agencies (Sedlak et al. 2010). The researchers broadly categorised child maltreatment into three groups according to their form of abuse whether it be Physical Abuse, Emotional Abuse and Neglect. For each maltreated case there was depiction of interventionists.
This data was then...