Peer-reviewed article
Strategies to Prevent Violence Against Children in the Home: A Systematic Review of Reviews
Jorge A. Cuartas, Ana Salazar, Sophia Backhaus, Madison T. Little, Dana Charles McCoy et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This systematic review of reviews examined evidence for strategies to prevent violence against children in the home, using the INSPIRE framework which includes laws, norms, safe environments, parent support, economic strengthening, response services, and education. The analysis of 67 reviews found strong evidence supporting parent and caregiver support interventions like home visiting and parent education. However, evidence for other INSPIRE strategies is limited, and research from low- and middle-income countries, children with disabilities, and conflict-affected families is largely absent.
Key points
- Parent and caregiver support interventions have extensive evidence of effectiveness for reducing violence against children in the home
- Home visiting and parent education programmes are identified as promising strategies
- Reviews on enforcement of laws, norms change, safe environments, economic strengthening, and response services are scarce
- Significant underrepresentation of evidence from low- and middle-income countries, children with disabilities, and families affected by displacement and conflict
- Further research is necessary to strengthen the evidence base and inform global scale-up of interventions
Limitations
This is a review of reviews rather than primary studies, so it synthesizes existing review-level evidence and cannot provide new data on intervention outcomes. The identified gaps in evidence from low- and middle-income countries and vulnerable populations mean the findings may not represent the global picture of what works to prevent violence against children.
Abstract
Violence against children (VAC) in the home, or by household members, is a human rights and social problem with long-lasting consequences for individuals and society. Global policy instruments like the INSPIRE package have proposed strategies to prevent VAC, including Implementation and enforcement of laws, Norms and values, Safe environments, Parent and caregiver support, Income and economic strengthening, Response and support services, and Education and life skills. This systematic review of reviews aimed to synthesize the recent evidence base (i.e., published since 2000) for each INSPIRE strategy to reduce VAC in the home or by household members. We searched four databases using controlled vocabularies and keywords and searched for additional records in prior reviews of reviews. A total of 67 studies were included in this review, including literature reviews, meta-analyses, systematic reviews, and other types of reviews. We found extensive evidence supporting the effectiveness of parent and caregiver support interventions. However, reviews on other INSPIRE strategies were scarce. We also found a vast underrepresentation of samples from low- and- middle-income countries, children with disabilities, and families affected by forced displacement and conflict. In sum, this systematic review suggests that there are several promising strategies to prevent VAC (e.g., home visiting and parent education), but further research is necessary to strengthen the current body of evidence and effectively inform the implementation and scale-up of evidence-based interventions to protect children from violence globally.