RESUMEN

BACKGROUND: As many countries lack (multi-sectoral) data on the epidemiology of agency responses to child maltreatment, they do not know if children in different regions of the country have equal chances to receive help and protection. The Optimus Study, the first nationally representative Swiss study on multi-sectoral responses to child maltreatment, examines gaps in identifying children in need and reveals opportunities for improved support and protection. METHODS: A stratified sample of 351 agencies (participation rate 81 %) in the social and health sector, public child protection, and the penal sector provided data on new cases between September 1 and November 30, 2016. The resulting study data on 7651 cases included information on the maltreatment incident, specifics of the report/referral, and child characteristics. The weighting procedure to produce national estimates was based on inverse sampling probabilities and inverse response rates. RESULTS: In the 3-month period, an estimated 10,335 cases were referred/reported to agencies in multiple sectors of the child protection system in Switzerland. This corresponded to 66 cases per 10,000 children. Rates were highest for adolescents (aged 13+), with 69 cases per 10,000 children. Lower rates for school-aged children coincided with a relatively low percentage of reports/referrals from the schools (8 %). Regional variance was extensive, with rates more than quadrupling from a low of 26 cases to a high of 107 cases per 10,000 children. Types of child maltreatment handled by agencies in the different sectors varied. Gender distribution was lopsided for sexual abuse, with many more girls experiencing incidents of sexual abuse, and unequal for incidents of neglect and psychological maltreatment. CONCLUSIONS: There are gaps in the identification of maltreated preschoolers. Promoting health checkups for this age group is a potential solution. However, school-aged children up to age 11 are underreported as well, as the schools contribute only marginally to child maltreatment reporting. The findings of the study are being used to initiate the implementation of continuous and multi-sectoral child maltreatment surveillance in Switzerland.

Asunto(s)

Maltrato a los Niños , Adolescente , Factores de Edad , Niño , Maltrato a los Niños/psicología , Maltrato a los Niños/estadística & datos numéricos , Preescolar , Familia , Femenino , Humanos , Incidencia , Lactante , Recién Nacido , Masculino , Notificación Obligatoria , Derivación y Consulta , Instituciones Académicas , Suiza

RESUMEN

BACKGROUND: Many countries around the world lack data on the epidemiology of agency response to child maltreatment. They therefore lack information on how many children in need get help and protection or if children stand equal chances across regions to get services. However, it has proven difficult to commit child protection agencies to participation in incidence studies. METHODS: The Optimus Study invested in a continuous collaborative effort between research and practice to develop a data collection for the first national study on the incidence of agency responses to all forms of child maltreatment in Switzerland. An innovative approach of utilizing individual agencies' standardized data reduced work burden for participation respectably: any arbitrary excerpt of data on new cases between September 1 and November 30, 2016, could be uploaded to a secured web-based data integration platform. It was then mapped automatically to fit the study's definitions and operationalizations. RESULTS: This strategy has led to a largely successful participation rate of 76% of agencies in the nationwide sample. 253 agencies from the social and health sector, public child protection, and the penal sector have provided data. CONCLUSIONS: Valuing agencies context-specific knowledge and expertise instead of viewing them as mere providers of data is a precondition for representativeness of incidence data on agency responses to child maltreatment. Potential investigators of future similar studies might benefit from the lessons learned of the presented project.