TY - JOUR PY - 2024// TI - Child abuse and neglect during the COVID-19 pandemic: an umbrella review JO - Child abuse and neglect A1 - Carsley, Sarah A1 - Thomas, Sera A1 - Oei, Tiffany A1 - Smith, Brendan A1 - Harrington, Daniel A1 - Pike, Ian A1 - Macpherson, Alison K. A1 - Richmond, Sarah A. SP - e106645 EP - e106645 VL - 149 IS - N2 - BACKGROUND: During the COVID-19 pandemic, multiple child health experts postulated that the stay-at-home orders would negatively impact child abuse and neglect.

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on child abuse and neglect in children ages 18 and under; and review author recommendations for future emergency lockdown procedures.

METHODS: We completed a systematic search of articles across five databases. Review-level studies were included if they examined any abuse or neglect related outcomes in children and youth (e.g., injuries, case openings), and were published in English. We completed quality appraisals of each included article using the Health Evidence™ tool. We categorized the findings by data source including administrative and survey data, or other data sources. We also narratively summarized reported recommendations.

RESULTS: In total, 11 reviews were included. Two reviews were of strong quality, 7 moderate, and 2 were weak. Overall, studies within reviews that reported from administrative data sources demonstrated decreased child abuse and neglect outcomes compared to before the pandemic. Studies using cross-sectional data demonstrated increases. Reviews with mixed results often reported increases in emotional, neglect and psychological abuse cases and decreases physical and sexual abuse cases.

CONCLUSIONS: This study found consistent results across reviews; depending on the data source and study design, child abuse and neglect outcomes either increased or decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Future work should enhance data collection methods for surveillance and intervention of child abuse and neglect during public health emergencies when traditional mechanisms are limited, with an increased focus on the rigor of reporting.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 0145-2134 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2024.106645 ID - ref1 ER -