ABSTRACT
Online child sexual abuse encompasses a range of offenses including the accessing, downloading, sharing and creating of images of child sexual abuse, often referred to as Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM). CSAM consumption has increased exponentially, and the lockdowns implemented as a response to COVID-19 have exacerbated this problem. CSAM offenders are more likely than other sex offenders to be married, to have children and to live with a partner and child(ren). Policy, practice and research has largely considered these families within the context of their protective properties, with little consideration for the individual and collective harms that they experience, and their unique support needs. Using data from 20 interviews with family members of those convicted of CSAM offenses in the UK, we propose seven key elements that characterize the impacts of CSAM offending on non-offending family members. We categorize these as: 1) Disenfranchised Grief;2) Ambiguous Loss;3) Ontological Assault;4) Contamination by Causal Responsibility;5) Wall of Silence;6) No-Win Situation, and 7) Burden of Responsibility. We propose policy and practice responses to minimize these harms. © 2023 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
Subject(s)
Developing Countries , Palliative Care , Global Health , Humans , Pain/drug therapy , Public HealthSubject(s)
COVID-19 Vaccines , COVID-19 , COVID-19/prevention & control , Health Care Rationing , Humans , Public HealthABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to review the trends in adult national screening programme performance in England before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and consider the future implications. STUDY DESIGN: This was a quantitative, longitudinal study. METHODS: Publicly available data on quarterly uptake of the five adult screening programmes in England were obtained from Public Health England. Trends from 2017 to 2021 were reviewed and discussed. RESULTS: From 2019 to 2020 Q4, there were substantial reductions in performance in four of the five national screening programmes that were not in keeping with recent trends. CONCLUSION: The reductions in screening performance coincide with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in England and may be explained by the temporary suspension of national screening programmes, and the inability or unwillingness of invitees to partake in screening once the programmes had been restored. Because of the delay in publication of the analysed data, further COVID-19 lockdowns in recent months make it probable that the current true screening performance figures are substantially lower than those presented in this article. The impact on screening programme performance is likely to be detrimental to patient outcomes, meaning remedial action is urgently required.