What can surveillance data and risk factor research contribute to a public health approach to preventing child sexual abuse?

Abstract

The aim of this article was to consider how populationlevel surveillance data and risk factor research might be applied to a public health approach to preventing child sexual abuse. The focus is on the collection of data in relation to ethnicity. By drawing from the four principles approach to ethical decision making developed by Beauchamp and Childress, the expected benefits of data collection are weighed against possible harms to individuals and communities. It concludes that the identification of high-risk groups can inform prioritisation of resources, and the development of context-specific and culturally sensitive child sexual abuse prevention and intervention programmes. However, it is crucial to explain why child sexual abuse is more prevalent in some ethnic communities than others. Explanations about causes can reduce the potential for stigmatisation and marginalisation of individuals and communities, as well as challenge widely held myths about biological determinism and inability to change.

Evaluation of a place‐based collective impact initiative through cross‐sectoral data linkage

“…For instance, if we had been able to construct our child‐centric dataset, there was a chance the data would have been re‐identifiable due to small cell sizes, even with the removal of identifying information. There is also the risk of identifying vulnerable groups of children and families, which could lead to stigmatisation and further marginalisation (Broadley 2018).…”

Technical considerations when implementing digital infrastructure for social policy

“…For example, effective integration of big data into health sector processes has been shown to enable patient-centric services, early detection of spread of disease, monitoring of hospital quality and improvement of treatment methods (Archenaa & Anita 2015) as well as the establishment of e-health integrated platforms (Black et al 2014). Big data is also being increasingly integrated into policymaking in diverse areas such as the prevention of child sexual abuse (Broadley 2018) and design of smart cities (Hong et al 2019).…”