A scoping review of participatory approaches in child maltreatment research across Europe

Diogo Lamela; Ulugbek Nurmatov; Ravit Alfandari; Natalie Söderlind; Gemma Crous; Maria Roth; Mary Jo Vollmer-Sandholm; Nuria Fuentes-Peláez; Helena Carvalho; Pia Rockhold; Bahar Aksoy; Elif Bulut; Vildan Apaydin Cirik; Zeynep Sofuoglu; Betul Ulukol; Andreas Jud; Gabriel Otterman; Laura Korhonen; COST Action network 19106

doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2024.107229

A scoping review of participatory approaches in child maltreatment research across Europe

Child Abuse Negl. 2024 Dec 24:107229. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2024.107229. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Diogo Lamela¹, Ulugbek Nurmatov², Ravit Alfandari³, Natalie Söderlind⁴, Gemma Crous⁵, Maria Roth⁶, Mary Jo Vollmer-Sandholm⁷, Nuria Fuentes-Peláez⁵, Helena Carvalho⁸, Pia Rockhold⁹, Bahar Aksoy¹⁰, Elif Bulut¹¹, Vildan Apaydin Cirik¹², Zeynep Sofuoglu¹³, Betul Ulukol¹⁴, Andreas Jud¹⁵, Gabriel Otterman⁴, Laura Korhonen¹⁶; COST Action network 19106

Affiliations

¹ Lusófona University, Digital Human-Environment Interaction Labs (HEI-Lab), Porto, Portugal. Electronic address: [email protected].
² School of Medicine, Division of Population Medicine, Cardiff University, Wales, UK.
³ Data Analytics for Safeguarding Children Lab, School of Social Work, University of Haifa, Israel.
⁴ National Competence Center Barnafrid, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
⁵ University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
⁶ Babes Bolyai University, Romania.
⁷ Department of Forensic Sciences, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway; Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
⁸ INED, School of Higher Education - Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Porto, Portugal; Center of Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences University of Porto, Portugal.
⁹ Forensic Mental Health Research Unit Middelfart, Department of Regional Health Research, University of Southern Denmark Middelfart, Denmark.
¹⁰ Child Health Nursing Department, Kumluca Faculty of Health Sciences, Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey.
¹¹ Child Health Nursing Department, Faculty of Health Sciences, Tokat Gaziosmanpasa University, Tokat, Turkey.
¹² Department of Midwifery, Child Health and Disease Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, Karamanoğlu Mehmetbey University, Karaman, Turkey.
¹³ Department of Public Health, School of Medicine, Izmir Democracy University, Turkey.
¹⁴ Ankara University, Turkey.
¹⁵ Clinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychotherapy, University Clinics Ulm, Germany.
¹⁶ National Competence Center Barnafrid, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.

PMID: 39721834
DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2024.107229

Abstract

Background: Participatory approaches in child maltreatment (CM) research increasingly focus on involving children, youth, and adults as co-researchers. However, little is known about their use in Europe.

Objective: To review the European literature on participatory approaches in CM research.

Methods: The study was undertaken by members of the Euro-CAN (COST Action 19,106) representing 35 countries in the European region. Focusing on the European research literature, we searched eight databases for studies investigating CM and using a participatory approach. The review followed scoping review guidelines and PRISMA-ScR, with thematic analysis for data synthesis.

Results: We identified 4927 potentially relevant articles, of which 307 were fully assessed for eligibility, and eight were ultimately included. The included studies addressed all types of CM; however, only two studies involved child and youth survivors of CM, while six involved children and youth from the community. Notably, no studies involving adult survivors were found. The findings indicate that children, youth, and adults can be involved in all stages of the research process, but the level of participation remains low. Eighteen different participatory methods were identified, and the ethical procedures and safeguarding of co-investigators varied significantly. Several barriers and challenges were identified, including issues related to adult gatekeeping behaviors, parental consent, confidentiality, and practical difficulties.

Conclusions: The involvement of children, youth, and adults as co-researchers in CM research across Europe remains limited, with considerable variation in methods and procedures. These findings inform an ongoing e-Delphi study aimed at building consensus recommendations for participatory CM research.

Keywords: Child abuse and neglect; Child maltreatment; Participatory approach; Participatory research; Scoping review; Survivor.