The Luis Amigó Chair of the University of Valencia has presented a resource with 97 variables and a software that will allow child and adolescent workers to prevent or assess the risks of abuse or other violent situations.
Researchers at the Universitat de València from different scientific areas are leading the development of the first complete instrument with predictive and diagnostic capacity of situations of risk and lack of protection in childhood: DAP 360º (Primary Care Determinants 360º).
This tool was presented on June 29th 2022 at the Botanical Garden of the Universitat de València. The development of the project has counted on the advice of renowned international experts of prestige, the institutional support of the Luis Amigó Chair and the support of the Professional Associations of Social Work, Psychology and Social Education.
This diagnostic tool or instrument is made up of 97 indicators, divided into 4 scales: parental factors, environmental factors - community, Unaccompanied Foreign Minors and Protection Factors. It evaluates the risk and lack of protection in real time, allows the declaration of risk to be included in the file, and also enables simultaneous access and evaluation by different professionals on a software diagnostic platform, establishing ranges of severity: low, moderate and high risk of lack of protection.
It is an objective, rigorous, statistically reliable tool that meets all psychometric standards.
It is a comprehensive instrument that breaks with the tradition of existing tools that fragment the diagnosis. The instrument allows for the evaluation of all spheres of socialisation of children and adolescents and the fundamental areas in which they are cared for: Social Services, Health, Education, Justice, Housing, etc., unifying the language, the perception of risk and incorporating a comprehensive, cross-cutting and interdisciplinary diagnosis.
The tool makes it possible to work on intervention objectives for the child, his or her family and environment, as well as to coordinate collective professional actions between the same or different services of origin.
For more than a decade, professionals working with children and adolescents have been demanding an objective tool that supports their legal security in situations of violence, abuse, mistreatment and lack of child protection. It also responds to legislative regulations on children and adolescents, such as Law 26/2018, of December 21st, on the rights and guarantees of children and adolescents, article 100.5 of which states that the public authorities "shall make available to local entities a protocol for detection, assessment and intervention in situations of risk that guarantees the unity of criteria in the exercise of protective action throughout the territory".
More than 300 professionals from different areas of intervention in the Valencian Community have participated from 2019 to 2022 in the development of the instrument, as they perceive it as absolutely essential for their daily professional practice and in the rigorous and diagnostic evaluation of situations of risk and lack of protection for children and adolescents. In no case does it replace professional judgement, but rather complements it and provides objective support for professional decision-making.
The commercialisation of the tool will be available from September 30th with four versions, depending on the number of files to be uploaded: Basic, Standard, Premium and Premium Plus, with the General Foundation of the Universitat de València being the licensee of all of them.
DAP 360º Team
• José Javier Navarro-Pérez. Lead Researcher. Department of Social Work and Social Services.
• José Manuel Tomás. Senior Researcher. Department of Behavioural Sciences Methodology.
• Paula Samper. Senior Researcher. Department of Basic Psychology.
• Ángela Carbonell. Junior Researcher. Department of Social Work and Social Services.
• Sylvia Georgieva. Junior Researcher. Department of Evolutionary and Educational Psychology.
• Irene Fernández. Junior Researcher. Department of Behavioural Sciences Methodology.
• Adrian Garcia-Mollà. Junior Researcher. Department of Basic Psychology.
• Maria Cid. IRTIC-UVEG.
• Marcos Fernández. IRTIC-UVEG.
