The Child Abuse Potential Inventory (CAPI) is a measure widely used to assess caregivers’ likelihood of physically abusing their child. Its psychometric properties require further assessment, specifically among highest-risk caregivers known to child protective services. This systematic review aimed to evaluate the criterion validity, construct validity, and responsiveness of the CAPI Abuse scale among child-welfare system involved caregivers of children aged 0–12. We searched PsycINFO, PubMed and Web of Science for articles published in English between 1986 and January 2023 that reported data on CAPI psychometric properties among child-welfare system involved caregiver samples. Articles were evaluated using the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) guidelines for systematic reviews of patient reported outcome measures. Twenty-eight articles reported on CAPI Abuse scale construct validity (i.e., convergent, and known-groups validity), criterion validity and/or responsiveness. Study quality was overall very good. CAPI validity and responsiveness were rated sufficient. CAPI was responsive to post-treatment changes as well as intervention group differences for several tertiary interventions. Despite methodological limitations in the evidence, this review found that the overall strength of CAPI Abuse scale validity and responsiveness evidence was moderate. These findings support further evaluation and CAPI use in clinical and research settings.
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