Centre for Development, Evaluation, Complexity and Implementation in Public Health Improvement, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3BD, UK.
Wolfson Centre for Young People's Mental Health, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF24 4HD, UK.
J Public Health (Oxf). 2022 Jun 27;44(2):e252-e259. doi: 10.1093/pubmed/fdab343.
COVID-19 lockdown measures may have led to more, and increasingly severe, domestic abuse. This study examines police referrals to a specialist domestic abuse service in Wales, UK before and during the first lockdown.
Routine data relating to 2292 police referrals for female adult victim-survivors from December 2019 until July 2020 were analysed and presented in the form of descriptive statistics to monitor changes in referral rates and the profile of those referrals.
There was little increase in the overall volume of police referrals during lockdown, but the proportion assessed as high risk increased, and children became the primary source of third-party referrals, with a higher proportion of reports made by other third parties as restrictions eased. Police reports for cases of Child/Adolescent to Parent Violence (C/APV) occurred almost exclusively during lockdown.
The increase in risk level despite less clear increase in volume may suggest unmet need, with victims less likely to seek help during lockdown other than for more severe instances. Increased reports by children suggest increased exposure of children to domestic abuse during school closure. Unmet need for women and children may have been made visible to services, and acquaintances, as measures began to ease.
COVID-19 封锁措施可能导致更多、日益严重的家庭暴力。本研究调查了英国威尔士一个专门的家庭暴力服务机构在首次封锁前后接到的警方转介。
分析了 2019 年 12 月至 2020 年 7 月期间 2292 名女性成年受害者的警方转介的常规数据，并以描述性统计数据的形式呈现，以监测转介率和转介者特征的变化。
封锁期间，警方总体转介量几乎没有增加，但评估为高风险的比例增加了，儿童成为第三方转介的主要来源，随着限制的放宽，更多的报告由其他第三方提出。儿童/青少年对父母暴力（C/APV）的案件的警方报告几乎只发生在封锁期间。
尽管转介量没有明显增加，但风险水平的上升可能表明存在未满足的需求，受害者在封锁期间除了更严重的情况外，不太可能寻求帮助。随着措施的放松，儿童报告的增加表明儿童在学校关闭期间更容易受到家庭暴力的影响。妇女和儿童的未满足需求可能已经对服务机构和熟人可见。
