There is a lack of evidence on interventions addressing institutional child maltreatment

Child maltreatment affects millions of children, adults and communities globally. Research on institutional maltreatment is spread across multiple sources and can be difficult for stakeholders to locate. This evidence and gap map (EGM) provides a ‘go to’ resource that presents existing evidence evaluating the effectiveness of interventions targeting the prevention, disclosure, response to, and treatment of institutional child maltreatment. The map indicates that evidence supporting interventions addressing institutional child maltreatment is limited.

What is this evidence and gap map about?

Child maltreatment, including sexual, physical or emotional abuse and neglect, negatively impacts the physical, mental, spiritual and interpersonal wellbeing of those experiencing and surviving it, in both the short term and the long term. Child maltreatment occurring in institutional settings has recently gained substantial public and policy recognition through government inquiries. Institutional settings can include places of education, foster care, residential care or juvenile justice or health care settings. The relevant research can be difficult for stakeholders, such as policy makers, researchers, practitioners and others, to access and use because it is spread out across multiple sources.

What is the aim of this evidence and gap map (EGM)?

This EGM provides a ‘go to’ resource presenting the existing evidence on the effectiveness of interventions addressing child maltreatment within institutional settings.

What are the main findings of this map?

This EGM indicates that evidence supporting interventions addressing institutional child maltreatment is limited. The map highlights a substantial need for more high-quality studies that evaluate interventions across a broader range of institutional contexts and maltreatment types. The evidence does not currently cover countries with large populations and those with the greatest incidence of child maltreatment. Few studies focussed on perpetrators or the organisational environment. There are evidence gaps for disclosure, organisational responses and treatment interventions, and few studies assessed interventions targeting perpetrators’ behaviours, recidivism or desistence.

More research is needed to address the gaps described above. Furthermore, future studies should include measures of programme implementation.