Child Maltreatment and Public Health: Do Gaps in Response during the COVID-19 Pandemic Highlight Jurisdictional Complexities?
Int J Environ Res Public Health
; 18(13)2021 06 25.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1285389
ABSTRACT
Objective:
Countermeasures introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic produced an environment that placed some children at increased risk of maltreatment at the same time as there were decreased opportunities for identifying and reporting abuse. Unfortunately, coordinated government responses to address child protection since the start of the pandemic have been limited in Canada. As an exploratory study to examine the potential academic evidence base and location of expertise that could have been used to inform COVID-19 pandemic response, we undertook a review of child maltreatment research across three prominent Canadian professional journals in social work, medicine and public health.Methods:
We conducted a pre-pandemic, thirteen-year (2006-2019) archival analysis of all articles published in the Canadian Social Work Review (CSWR), the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) and the Canadian Journal of Public Health (CJPH) and identified the research articles that related directly to child maltreatment, child protection or the child welfare system in Canada.Results:
Of 11,824 articles published across the three journals, 20 research papers relating to child maltreatment, child protection or the child welfare system were identified (CJPH = 7; CMAJ = 3; CSWR = 10). There was no obvious pattern in article topics by discipline.Discussion:
Taking these three prominent professional journals as a portal into research in these disciplines, we highlight the potential low volume of academic child maltreatment research despite the importance of the topic and irrespective of discipline. We believe that urgent transdisciplinary collaboration and overall awareness raising for child protection is called for at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as beyond in Canada.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Child Abuse
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Child
/
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
North America
Language:
English
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Ijerph18136851
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