Metcalf Stacy, Marlow J Alex, Rood Corey J, Hilado Mark A, DeRidder Catherine A, Quas Jodi A
Department of Psychological Science, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
University of California Irvine School of Medicine, Irvine, CA, USA.
Psychol Public Policy Law. 2022 May;28(2):267-279. doi: 10.1037/law0000352. Epub 2022 Mar 21.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has raised serious concerns about child maltreatment, which is known to increase in frequency and severity during times of high stress. The present study used diverse datasets to concurrently examine changes in identification and medical evaluation of maltreatment allegations from before to during COVID-19. Four sources of data were collected from two counties for the months of March-December in 2019 and 2020, including reports to social services and child maltreatment evaluation clinic medical evaluations (CMECs). The number of reports, number of children reported, and rate of children reported were used to evaluate identification. Incidence was estimated based on the number of medical evaluations conducted at the CMECs. Maltreatment type, reporter type, and child demographics were also considered. Across both counties, there were significantly fewer reports and reported children in 2020 compared to 2019, signifying decreased identification of suspected maltreatment cases. This was especially true in spring and fall when children are typically in school. Across both counties, the proportion of children reported to the county that received medical evaluations was higher in 2020 compared to 2019. This suggests that the pandemic was related to an increase in the occurrence maltreatment serious enough to warrant medical evaluations, or perhaps in the relative number of serious cases identified. Findings show divergent trends in reporting and evaluation of suspected maltreatment cases from before to during COVID-19. Identification and service delivery methods need creative solutions to adapt to changing environments. Medical, social, and legal systems need to prepare for increases in families seeking services as pandemic-related restrictions are lifted.
2019年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行引发了对儿童虐待问题的严重担忧，众所周知，在高压力时期，儿童虐待事件的频率和严重程度会增加。本研究使用了不同的数据集，同时考察了COVID-19之前到期间虐待指控的识别和医学评估的变化。从两个县收集了2019年和2020年3月至12月这几个月的四类数据，包括向社会服务机构的报告以及儿童虐待评估诊所的医学评估（CMECs）。报告数量、报告的儿童数量以及报告儿童的比例用于评估识别情况。发病率是根据CMECs进行的医学评估数量来估计的。还考虑了虐待类型、报告者类型和儿童人口统计学特征。在这两个县，与2019年相比，2020年的报告数量和报告的儿童数量显著减少，这表明疑似虐待案件的识别有所减少。在春季和秋季，也就是孩子们通常上学的时候，情况尤其如此。在这两个县，2020年与2019年相比，向接受医学评估的县报告的儿童比例更高。这表明，大流行与严重到足以需要医学评估的虐待事件发生率增加有关，或者可能与识别出的严重案件的相对数量有关。研究结果显示，从COVID-19之前到期间，疑似虐待案件的报告和评估呈现出不同的趋势。识别和服务提供方式需要创造性的解决方案以适应不断变化的环境。随着与大流行相关的限制措施解除，医疗、社会和法律系统需要为寻求服务的家庭数量增加做好准备。
