APPROPRIATE USE OF THE CHILD-ABUSE POTENTIAL INVENTORY IN A BIG-BROTHERS BIG-SISTERS AGENCY/

The present study investigated the utility of the Child Abuse Potentia l (CAP) Inventory in screening volunteers for Big Brothers/Big Sisters (BB/BS). CAP Abuse scores effectively discriminated between volunteer s who were rated excellent versus bad by BB/BS agency staff members an d between volunteer applicants who were accepted versus rejected by tr aditional BB/BS agency screening methods. In a second study, 21 male s exual offenders against children completed the CAP. The CAP Abuse scor es for 47% of these males were elevated, suggesting that the CAP alone is insufficient for screening this disorder. It is useful only as par t of a multimodal assessment program. Suggestions for incorporating th e CAP into the BB/BS screening program ate offered.