ABSTRACT
Child abuse has been a concern of the human service professions for only the past several decades. Child abuse is a complex social problem and may require various approaches in understanding and eradicating this problem. This chapter aims to review various models suggested by the literature for understanding, treating and preventing child abuse. It presents an ecological model of human behavior as a comprehensive perspective for integrating the diverse models suggested by the literature on child abuse. The purpose of the treatment was for the parent to gain insight into the nature of the psychopathological dysfunctioning and from this insight to make adaptive changes which would impact on the relationship with the abused child. The psychological model views the psychosocial functioning of the abusive parent as the focal point; the sociological model the sociocultural environment of the family; and, the interactional model the relationship of the parent to the child and vice versa.
