The Diana Screen has three risk measures.
These measures are supported by 18 years of research and two long-term pilot studies with The Episcopal Church Pension Fund and The Boys and Girls Clubs of America.
These measures assess both a test taker's understanding of appropriate adult/child sexual boundaries and the probability that a test taker has had sexual contact with a child or teenager.
The first two Diana Screen measures are confidential to protect the integrity of the screen.
The Diana Screen's third measure, through an advance in technology, analyses answer patterns. Using a complex methodology, The Diana Screen matches male and female test takers' answer patterns to those of verified child sexual abusers who were lying while answering The Diana Screen questions. It is for this reason that test takers' are asked to identify their gender. These answer patterns of lying child sexual abusers are significantly different from most people in the general population. Test takers whose answer patterns match verified child sexual abusers have a high probability of having already sexually abused a child.
The Diana Screen measures are supported by many peer-reviewed scientific articles.
The Diana Screen does not compete with criminal background checks. Rather, it is intended to complement an organisation's current Abuse Risk Management Plan. It is recommended that organisations that begin use of The Diana Screen continue use of criminal background checks.
Criminal background checks can identify people with criminal convictions for child sexual abuse. In contrast, The Diana Screen does not rely on public records or criminal histories. The Diana Screen methodology provides more effective results.
In a survey of 13,000 people about the child sexual abuse within their families, only 6% indicated that the abuse was reported to the police. Moreover in a study of 3,700,000 criminal background checks reported by ChoicePoint, only 0.1% of the entire screened pool was identified as having a criminal history related to sexual offences. Most organisations rely on criminal background checks as their strongest safety measure toward keeping children safe, however the reality is that criminal background checks provide very little protection from child sexual abuse.
Vicpsychplus has completed an extensive legal review of The Diana Screen in all states and territories of Australia. Some of the key legislative requirements that have been addressed indicated: