BACKGROUND: The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) call for systematic monitoring of the prevalence of sexual violence against children and young people. The rise of the internet has facilitated the risk of online child sexual solicitation and abuse (OCSSA), a critical issue that warrants particular attention and must not be overlooked. OBJECTIVE: This study examines the prevalence of OCSSA, distinguishing between online child sexual abuse (OCSA) and online sexual solicitation (OSS) in Germany, and explores generational differences. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: A representative German sample of 3098 participants aged 18-96 was assessed. The 18-29 age group was oversampled, and the results were weighted accordingly. METHOD: -tests, and logistic regression were used to analyze age-related differences, controlling for socio-demographic and -economic factors. RESULTS: In the general population, 10.3 % reported experiencing at least one form of OCSSA, with 2.8 % reporting OCSA, and 9.3 % OSS. Among younger participants aged 18-29, prevalence was significantly higher at 31.6 % for OCSSA, 3.5 % for OCSA, and 29.6 % for OSS. The most common experiences among younger participants were exposure to pornographic material (21.1 %) and sexualized conversation (15.0 %). Age was the main predictor of OCSSA. CONCLUSION: OCSSA is significantly more prevalent among younger generations in Germany, likely due to increased exposure to digital environments during childhood coupled with the proliferation of the internet and social media in recent decades. These findings highlight the urgent need for targeted prevention efforts addressing online risks.
Katrin Chauviré-Geib, Jelena Gerke, Ann‐Christin Haag et al.
BACKGROUND: In recent decades, many interventions targeting the occurrence (primary prevention) or the recurrence (secondary prevention) of child abuse and neglect have been tested. Findings have been synthesized in several meta-analyses and systematic reviews. However, the range of interventions addressed in these studies is very broad, and an integrative assessment of this large spectrum is lacking. OBJECTIVE: Focusing on high-income countries, we ask (i) what is known about the effectiveness of interventions to prevent or reduce child abuse and neglect and (ii) how robust this evidence is. METHODS: A systematic review of systematic reviews, called an umbrella review, was conducted. Ten databases on OvidSP and Web of Science were searched up until April 2023. Narrative synthesis was used to document the publications' findings. RESULTS: 44 publications were included in the umbrella review. We did not find that any type of intervention had a clear, consistent, and robust track record of preventing or reducing the occurrence of child abuse and neglect. Rather, publications examining the effectiveness of interventions in all areas frequently reported non-existent, small or inconsistent effects. However, positive effects for particular interventions in specific settings did emerge. Research methodologies showed several and often severe problems. CONCLUSIONS: We suggest several measures to improve the quality of research and call on practitioners to be persistent in developing more effective interventions.
The mental health problems of parents can negatively affect their whole family. The organisational and wider context may also influence the outcomes for all involved. The aims of this systematic review were: to develop a working definition of family‐focused practice (FFP); identify the types of outcomes that are measured with a focus on service user experiences; and explore how well interventions in the included studies fit with previously established components of FFP. A comprehensive literature search of 16 databases was conducted for peer‐reviewed, primary research studies related to FFP published between 1998 and 2016. In total, 3731 articles were identified and screened by four reviewers. Of those, 40 articles met all of the inclusion criteria. The review focused on family outcomes and, consistent with previous reviews, there was a reasonable degree of consistency about the core components of FFP. An additional component, identified by this review, which was part of some interventions, was work to improve access to and engagement with community supports and services. The review concludes that there is a need for: an agreed definition of FFP; clearer links to relevant theories; a more consistent approach to measuring outcomes, including economic perspectives; and an increased strategic promotion of whole family approaches. Key Practitioner Messages There is an immediate need for an agreed definition of family‐focused practice. Relevant theory could further clarify the theories of change and anticipated outcomes. There is consistency across studies about the key components of family‐focused practice. This review suggests the inclusion of an additional component, which is practice that improves access to and engagement with community supports and services. Economic evaluations of family‐focused practice are needed. ‘There is an immediate need for an agreed definition of family‐focused practice’
BACKGROUND: Sibling sexual abuse is a common form of intra-familial sexual abuse, yet it remains under-studied and under-recognised, leaving many children unprotected and unsupported. Practitioners need rigorously conducted evidence syntheses to inform decision making in this complex practice area. OBJECTIVE: A scoping review was conducted with the broad research question: What is known about sibling sexual abuse? in order to map the research and to establish areas of knowledge and gaps requiring attention. METHOD: The review followed the guidelines of Arksey and O'Malley (2005), and through searches of 11 academic databases, 3 grey literature databases, journal handsearch and Google, identified 91 empirical papers for review. RESULTS: While poorly and inconsistently defined, sibling sexual abuse is a common form of child sexual abuse with significant consequences for the whole family. It may involve children of any age and sex, entail the full range of sexual behaviours, and can take place in families from across the socioeconomic spectrum. Disclosure is uncommon during childhood, with multiple barriers including the nature of the caregiving environment in which sibling sexual abuse often takes place. Official records are likely to under-report the frequency and duration of the abuse. CONCLUSIONS: There is considerable scope for further research across all aspects of sibling sexual abuse. This paper represents the most comprehensive (albeit not complete) overview of the current body of knowledge in this field to date, and presents key findings as well as a summary of practice and research recommendations.
This continuing professional development paper provides an overview of the impact that COVID-19 has had on specialist services delivering support to children and young people experiencing domestic violence and abuse (DVA). It draws upon the experiences of being the operational manager of two specialist children's services. The target audience includes professionals working with young people in a range of settings including schools, youth clubs and statutory services. This understanding also contributes a valuable insight into those with a strategic or commissioning responsibility to provide support services for children and young people. The COVID-19 pandemic has proven to be very unsettling for children, young people and their families. Academics have begun to document the impact that this virus, and the restrictions imposed by lockdown, are having on those experiencing DVA. Guidance to 'stay at home' and the notion of 'social distancing' did not instil a sense of safety and reassurance for all. These restrictions have resulted in major concerns around the increased risk of harm for those living in abusive households globally (Bradbury-Jones and Isham, 2020; Campbell, 2020; Usher et al., 2020). These measures saw a 25 per cent increase in calls to the National Domestic Abuse Helpline (Kelly and Morgan, 2020) and escalations in abuse resulting in increased demand on DVA services (Grierson, 2020; Women's Aid, 2020). Although an increase in referrals to local specialist DVA services had been expected, this has not been happening for children and young people. These services have seen significant decreases in the number of referrals during lockdown. 'Guidance to 'stay at home' and the notion of 'social distancing' did not instil a sense of safety and reassurance for all' Children and young people continue to tell practitioners that school is often one of the only safe places they have, so when schools began to close this caused great concern. Not only were young people losing an escape from abuse at home, they were also losing opportunities to disclose what was happening. The closure of youth clubs and sports clubs further reduced opportunities for children and young people to ask for help. For DVA services, schools are one of the main referral sources. Children and young people are often overlooked, with the focus being on the parent/carer who is seen as the primary victim. A lack of victim status awarded to young people experiencing DVA in the home means that they are hidden from support services; identification was already an issue before the pandemic. The impact of COVID-19 has meant children and young people experiencing abuse have gone from being unnoticed to invisible. There is a national shortfall in services for children and young people experiencing DVA (Humphreys and Mullender, 2015; Radford et al., 2011; Stanley, 2011). Despite reductions in referrals, services have continued to have significantly high numbers of young people awaiting support to help them cope and recover from the harm caused. School closures have affected the support that specialist services have been able to provide. Before the pandemic, support was most commonly delivered in a school environment; this safe and controlled space enabled practitioners to engage with young people who may have unsafe, chaotic or neglectful homes. Organisations who would ordinarily deliver support in-person to children and young people have had to adapt their service model to meet Government guidelines. One-to-one support sessions and the delivery of group work programmes have not been allowed to continue in person. While the need for this suspension is undeniable, the support needs of children and young people experiencing DVA have not disappeared. Adaptations used by specialist services include telephone support, video conferencing and indirect support through safe parent/carers. These have been delivered depending on the age, risk and current circumstances of children and young people. 'Organisations who would ordinarily deliver support in-person to children and young people have had to adapt their service model to meet Government guidelines' For some, support has been delivered directly to the young person by specialist practitioners over the phone. As they would have done in person, practitioners have made scheduled calls on a weekly basis allowing children and young people to talk through their experiences and complete interventions including safety planning, confidence and self-esteem building, and developing coping strategies. This has been delivered to children as young as eight, however, such interventions have proven most successful for young people over the age of 14. This has also been favourable to young people struggling with social skills such as eye contact. Practitioners have needed to remain vigilant while making these calls, ensuring that young people have an appropriate environment to talk, without concerns around the perpetrator being present, which could increase the risk of further harm. Thorough risk assessments have enabled young people who prefer to see the person supporting them continue engaging with support. Platforms such as Skype have been used, particularly with younger children, to help build trusting relationships with practitioners while receiving support. Although this method has had very little uptake, it has been offered where appropriate. While a lifeline for some, this has not been the most accessible form of support, requiring families to have access to technology and internet connections. When services have been in contact with families where the safe and non-abusive parent/carer has been in a position to complete interventions with their children, practitioners have provided step-by-step instructions and over-the-phone support, guiding parents to support their children. This has most commonly been utilised by families with children who may be too young to engage in telephone support. Careful consideration has been required with this method; parent/carers who have experienced abuse themselves may not have processed their own experiences or still live with the abuse and, therefore, may not be in a position to support their children with interventions. Nonetheless, families who have been able to do this report improvements not only in their child's wellbeing, but also in parent–child relationships. Some parent/carers have informed services that they want to wait for in-person support to resume and not utilise any remote support. These families have received weekly calls from practitioners throughout lockdown to monitor changes in circumstances and escalations of abuse or risk. This has been met with resistance from some who have declined or not answered calls, causing significant concern to practitioners who are now unaware of what may be happening. Practitioners have also become particularly alarmed for young people who continue to live with abuse. Before the pandemic, these young people accessed support without the knowledge of their parent/carer; however, at present they cannot engage with services due to being in lockdown with the abuser. While these concerns have been raised with statutory agencies, practitioners feel guilty that they would usually be able to do more. 'Some parent/carers have informed services that they want to wait for in-person support to resume and not utilise any remote support' It is important not to overlook the impact of this pandemic on practitioners who have continued to work and provide remote support to children and young people experiencing DVA. Services have delivered support throughout lockdown, ensuring young people have ongoing access to a support network. However, the support networks of practitioners have significantly decreased with offices closing and practitioners working from home. Iliffe and Steed (2000) highlighted peer support as instrumental in managing levels of secondary trauma experienced by practitioners. Current circumstances have meant that practitioners do not have the opportunity to offload with colleagues while in the office and support each other after very demanding and emotional sessions. Effective support and supervision from management is also considered one of the most important factors contributing to practitioner wellbeing (NSPCC, 2013; Slattery and Goodman, 2009). While this is still being provided, it is done so over the phone or through video conferencing. This does not compare to being present with a colleague in a supportive environment. Ultimately, the potential for secondary trauma and practitioner burnout is increased. 'The potential for secondary trauma and practitioner burnout is increased' Increased demand on DVA services during the pandemic have been recognised by the UK Government resulting in the Ministry of Justice securing £25 million for charities supporting vulnerable people, including victims of DVA (GOV.UK, 2020). This has enabled specialist services to employ extra staff to meet increasing demand. While this addition has been beneficial to children and young people experiencing DVA, it is somewhat premature. With services for young people not seeing the same increase in demand as portrayed in the media, this funding may be utilised more effectively once the country is out of lockdown. Given the significant decrease in referrals from schools, youth clubs and sports clubs, it is expected that services will experience instrumental increases in referrals once young people are back with the adults they trust and given the opportunity to make disclosures around what they have experienced. While children and young people being able to make disclosures and, furthermore, access support is positive, services need to be supported by those in power to have the means to meet demand. As Government restrictions begin to be relaxed and schools allow practitioners access again, services have started to re-introduce in-person support. Rigorous risk assessments enable this when there are significant concerns about a young person and remote support is no longer possible. Practitioners report a sense of relief despite delivering this to very small numbers. Whilst there is still a substantial way to go, this marks the first steps towards 'normality.'
BACKGROUND: Most research examining the consumption of online child sexual abuse material (CSAM) has focused on offenders' demographic and psychological characteristics. While such research may assist in the development of therapeutic interventions with known offenders, it has little to offer the development of interventions for the vast majority of offenders who are never caught. OBJECTIVE: To learn more about the offending strategies of CSAM offenders, in order to inform prevention efforts to deter, disrupt, and divert individuals from their pursuit of CSAM. PARTICIPANTS & SETTING: Seventy-five male CSAM offenders, who were living in the community and were voluntarily participating in a treatment programme. METHODS: Participants completed a detailed self-report questionnaire focussing on their pathways to offending and their online behaviour. RESULTS: Most participants reported that they did not initially seek out CSAM but that they first encountered it inadvertently or became curious after viewing legal pornography. Their involvement in CSAM subsequently progressed over time and their offending generally became more serious. The most notable feature of participants' online behaviour was the relative lack of sophisticated technical expertise. Opportunity and other situational factors emerged as mediators of offending frequency. Offending patterns were affected by participants' psychological states (e.g., depression, anger, stress), offline relationships and commitments (e.g., arguments with spouse, loss of job), and online experiences (e.g., blocked sites, viruses, warning messages). CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that many offenders are receptive to change and may be potentially diverted from their offending pathway.
Richard Wortley, Donald Findlater, Alexandra Bailey et al.
BACKGROUND: University students report high levels of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), which can lead to severe mental health problems. Understanding how ACEs impact well-being in this population is essential, yet research to date is limited. OBJECTIVE: To explore ACE patterns and their association with lower well-being in university students. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: 1023 Spanish students (71.6 % female) aged between 18 and 64 years old (M = 20.10, SD = 3.93) completed a self-report questionnaire. METHODS: This study used a cross-sectional design. The ACE International Questionnaire (ACE-IQ) and the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale were used to assess, respectively, childhood adversities and mental well-being. Latent Class Analysis and regression modeling were conducted to analyze the link between ACEs and lower mental well-being, considering the covariates of age, country of origin, sexual orientation, and mental illness. RESULTS: = 0.054) successfully predicted well-being scores based on ACE classes. When compared with the Low ACE class, all other classes exhibited lower levels of well-being. Age, sexual orientation, and mental illness were also related to lower well-being, with mental illness having the strongest negative effect (β = -0.635, t(1015) = -6.49, p < .001). CONCLUSIONS: These findings underscore the relationship between childhood adversity and mental health, offering insights for future prevention efforts and enriching our understanding of ACEs and their impact on well-being.
BACKGROUND: Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a type of maltreatment considered a global health problem. CSA is a traumatic experience with important consequences for the victim's health. It is essential to report the effectiveness of CSA prevention programs to offer society useful tools to combat this abuse. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to study the effectiveness of CSA prevention programs on the knowledge acquisition based on comparing pre- and post-treatment changes, and also if their effectiveness is related to program-related and methodological variables. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTINGS: Standardised mean change (with studies that report pre-post program measures) of the effectiveness of CSA prevention programs published between 2014 and 2021 was carried out. METHODS: The general effectiveness of these programs and whether the results were influenced by program-related variables (the duration, the target population, participants' age, or the type of intervention) or by methodology-related factors (the agent who taught them, the geographical area where they were carried out or the way the programs were evaluated) were analysed. A total of 43 samples analysing knowledge about CSA as a dependent variable were included. RESULTS: = -0.96, 95 % CI [-1.10, -0.82], p < .001). High inter-study heterogeneity was observed in the meta-analysis, although only the geographic area where the studies were conducted appears as a significant moderator. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, the prevention programs included in this analysis significantly improved the participants' knowledge acquisition.
Marta Ferragut, M. Victoria Cerezo, Margarita Ortiz‐Tallo et al.
Training for child interviewing in case of suspected (sexual) abuse must include ongoing practice, expert feedback and performance evaluation. Computer-based interview simulations including these components have shown efficacy in promoting open-ended questioning skills. We evaluated ViContact, a training program for childcare professionals on conversations with children in case of suspected abuse. 110 student teachers were divided into four groups and took part either in a two-hour virtual reality training through verbal interaction with virtual children, followed by automated, personalized feedback (VR), two days of online seminar training on conversation skills, related knowledge and action strategies (ST), a combination of both (ST + VR), or no training (control group, CG). We conducted a pre-registered, randomized-controlled evaluation study. Pre-post changes on three behavioral outcomes in the VR conversations and two questionnaire scores (self-efficacy and – undesirable – naïve confidence in one's own judgment of an abuse suspicion) were analyzed via mixed ANOVA interaction effects. Combined training vs. CG led to improvements in the proportion of recommended questions (ηp2 = 0.75), supportive utterances (ηp2 = 0.36), and self-efficacy (ηp2 = 0.77; all ps < .001). Both interventions alone improved the proportion of recommended questions (VR: ηp2 = 0.67, ST: ηp2 = 0.68, ps < .001) and self-efficacy (VR: ηp2 = 0.24, ST: ηp2 = 0.65, ps < .001), but not supportive utterances (VR: ηp2 = 0.10, ST: ηp2 = 0.13, both n. s.). The combination of VR and ST proved most beneficial. Thus, VR exercises should not replace, but rather complement classical training approaches.
BACKGROUND: Childhood traumatic experiences can profoundly impact individuals, posing risks to the physical and psychological well-being of children and influencing their psychological development. Teachers in primary schools play a critical role in identifying and reporting suspected cases of child abuse and maltreatment (CAM), which initiates child protection interventions. However, the psychological factors that influence teachers' likelihood of reporting suspected CAM cases remain largely unexplored. AIM: This study investigates the influence of teachers' childhood traumatic experiences and psychological factors (i.e., cognitive empathy and psychological detachment) on their reporting behavior regarding child abuse and maltreatment, addressing an important social issue. PARTICIPANTS: 46.7, DS 10.3). RESULTS: The results reveal that teachers with a history of childhood emotional abuse tend to report a higher number of suspected child abuse and maltreatment cases. Other forms of traumatic childhood experiences were not significantly associated with teachers' reporting suspected cases of CAM. Additionally, cognitive empathy and psychological detachment emerge as significant predictors of teachers' reporting behavior. CONCLUSIONS: This research contributes to the existing literature by providing unique insights into actual reporting behavior within an unexplored cultural context.
Matteo Angelo Fabris, Claudio Longobardi, Michele Settanni et al.
