Child maltreatment-related children's emergency department visits before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Connecticut

Amick, Michael; Bentivegna, Kathryn; Hunter, Amy A.; Leventhal, John M.; Livingston, Nina; Bechtel, Kirsten; Holland, Margaret L.

doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2022.105619

Cited by 13 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…The current study investigated changes in CSA before and during the pandemic and identified some of the potential risk factors. Similar to the findings of different studies in the literature, our findings found a decrease in CSA during the pandemic process (Aslan, Timur&Pakiş, 2020, Martinkevich et al, 2020, Güney& Bağ, 2021, Petrowski et al, 2021, Amick et al, 2022, Wong et al, 2022, Long et al, 2022, Huang et al, 2023. However, this decrease can be considered as an "artificial decrease", not a real decrease.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…Second, the quarantine and social isolation measures implemented to combat the Covid-19 pandemic have led to the withdrawal of children from school and society, a lack of communication with the wider social networks of family and friends, and the limitation of their social relationships (Bullinger et al, 2021, Lawson et al, 2020, Harris et al, 2021. However, studies have reported a significant decrease in visits to emergency services, hospital admissions and utilization of health services (Aslan, Timur&Pakiş, 2020, Martinkevich et al, 2020, Güney& Bağ, 2021, Petrowski et al, 2021, Amick et al, 2022, Wong et al, 2022, Long et al, 2022, Huang et al, 2023. These may have prevented early detection, exposure and reporting of sexual abuse.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some study results showed a decrease in the notifications made to the helplines and the number of children coming to the emergency services due to sexual abuse (Aslan, Timur&Pakiş, 2020, Martinkevich et al, 2020, Güney& Bağ, 2021, Petrowski et al, 2021, Amick et al, 2022, Wong et al, 2022, Long et al, 2022, Huang et al, 2023. However, despite these studies, the evidence on the effects of the Covid 19 pandemic on CSA is scarce and comes from limited data (Fraser, 2020, Amick et al, 2022, Katz et al, 2022, Huang et al, 2023. For this reason, there is a need for studies investigating the effects of more and different variables on CSA.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The effect of the covid-19 pandemic on applications to the children’s advocacy center

Öncü¹,

Uslu²

2023

JOA

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The purpose of the study is to determine and compare the characteristics of child sexual abuse (CSA) cases who applied to the children’s advocacy center (CAC) before and during the pandemic. The population and sample of this descriptive, retrospective study consists of the files of children who came to Burdur CAC for CSA between April 1, 2019-March 31, 2020 and April 1, 2020-March 31, 2021. A total of 171 files were examined in study. Data were collected using the Data Collection Form developed by the researchers. Descriptive statistics, Chi-square test, Man Whitney U and Bonferroni tests were used for the analysis of the data. Prior to the study, permission was obtained from the Ministry of Health, Provincial Health Directorate, and Ethics Committee. The results showed that that 113 out of 171 children came to CAC before pandemic, and the number of children who came to CAC decreased during the pandemic (n=58). It was found that 60.8% of children were exposed to non-penetrative sexual abuse, and the number of sexual abuse decreased during pandemic process compared to pre-pandemic period. Regarding the characteristics of perpetrators; mean age was 32.6±16.1 years and 98.8% of them were males. It was also found that both before and during pandemic, children were mostly abused by their friends/lovers, and most of the abuse took place in home of the perpetrator. Those who reported abuse before and during pandemic were found to demonstrate statistically significant differences (p<0.001). Most of the notifications were found to be made by teachers (n=69) before pandemic, while number of teachers’ notifications decreased (n=9) during pandemic process, and the most notifications were made by mothers and fathers (n=23). In the future, it is recommended to carry out studies to determine types of CSA faced by children in digital environments before, during and after pandemic.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The effect of the covid-19 pandemic on applications to the children’s advocacy center

Öncü¹,

Uslu²

2023

JOA

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Reports from other sources are mixed; violence and abuse hotlines note general increases in call volume ( De Boer et al, 2021 ; Loiseau et al, 2021 ; Petrowski et al, 2021 ; Rapoport et al, 2021 ), whereas emergency department records show more variation with reports of no changes ( Caron et al, 2022b ; Chaiyachati et al, 2022 ; Russell et al, 2020 ), decreases ( Bullinger et al, 2021b ; Chaiyachati et al, 2022 ; Stivaros et al, 2022 ;), as well as increases in both cases ( Amick et al, 2022 ; Bullinger et al, 2021c ; DeLaroche et al, 2021 ; Kovler et al, 2021 ; Loiseau et al, 2021 ; Sidpra et al, 2021 ), and severity of abuse ( De Boer et al, 2021 ). Several studies have also demonstrated a change in the distribution of types of CM, including dramatic increases in admissions related to neglect or lack of supervision ( Bullinger et al, 2021b ), and admissions related to pediatric abusive head trauma since the pandemic onset ( Sidpra et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: During the Covid-19 Pandemicmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 and Caregiver Risk Factors for Child Maltreatment: The Pandemic in Review

Garner

Self‐Brown

Emery

et al. 2023

Trauma, Violence, & Abuse

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The COVID-19 pandemic has fostered an environment for increased risk of child maltreatment (CM) as families experience increased psychosocial and financial burdens and spend unprecedented amounts of time together in the home. This narrative review aimed to summarize empirical findings on existing or new pandemic-related risk factors among caregivers. A combination of search terms related to CM and COVID-19 were used to identify articles published within five databases between February 2020 and July 2022. Literature searches produced 113 articles, of which 26 published across 12 countries met inclusion criteria. Four previously well-established risk factors for CM perpetration continued to persist during the pandemic, including stress, parental mental health, financial concerns, and parental substance use. Of note, inconsistent definitions and measures were used to capture these risk factors. Several additional emerging and understudied risk factors were also identified among limited articles, such as food insecurity and parental education. Findings emphasize the ongoing need for evidence-based interventions to address CM risk during the pandemic, including parent training programs. However, consolidated measures and consistent conceptualization of risk factors are needed to advance the study of CM. Going forward, practitioners and researchers should (a) strengthen the identification process for families at greatest risk for CM, and particularly those vulnerable to pandemic-related stressors; and (b) augment delivery of CM prevention strategies and evidence-based programs to fit the pandemic context.

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“…An opinion article from earlier this year points to research and anecdotal evidence documenting declines in maltreatment reports across emergency department and child welfare settings (Sege & Stephens, 2022), and as such argues that child maltreatment did not increase during the pandemic. Indeed, child welfare and emergency department data, two major sources of child maltreatment surveillance data, show declines in child maltreatment reports during the pandemic when compared to time periods prior to the pandemic (e.g., Amick & Bentivegna, 2022; Kaiser & Kornblith, 2021; De Boer et al, 2022; Swedo & Idaikkadar, 2020). In this brief commentary, we explore the challenges of drawing firm conclusions regarding child maltreatment during COVID-19 and pose a few research questions for the field moving forward.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Child Maltreatment During the Pandemic

2022

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What happened with child abuse and neglect during the pandemic? Emergency department and child welfare data suggest a decline in reports; however other sources of data suggest that risk for abuse and neglect remained high during COVID-19. In this commentary, the authors highlight the complicated, and at times contradictory, evidence as to what occurred with child abuse and neglect during the pandemic. The commentary concludes with suggestions for future research.

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Child maltreatment-related children's emergency department visits before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Connecticut

Cited by 13 publications

References 24 publications

The effect of the covid-19 pandemic on applications to the children’s advocacy center

The effect of the covid-19 pandemic on applications to the children’s advocacy center

COVID-19 and Caregiver Risk Factors for Child Maltreatment: The Pandemic in Review

Child Maltreatment During the Pandemic

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