Publications by Andreas Jud
While there is a growing number of international population surveys about rates of child maltreat... more While there is a growing number of international population surveys about rates of child maltreatment there is much less data on legal, health and social services responses to maltreatment. Agency surveys are a cost effective method for assessing this response in countries where there is limited administrative data available about child maltreatment reports, investigations and services. The first step in conducting such survey is to map out the network of agencies and organizations tasked with responding to child maltreatment, as part of a multi-stage sampling strategy to identify a representative sample of child maltreatment reports and investigations. This endeavor can be complex as a diverse universe of agencies are involved in protecting victimized children and supporting their families—government-run child protective services, child protection teams at hospitals, not-for-profit helplines, psychotherapists at private practices, and community-based child welfare organizations, to name a few examples. This paper offers a framework for mapping child protection along the dimensions of levels of authority, functions and processes. Beyond high-income countries with well-established child protection systems, it gives special consideration to informal structures such as councils of community leaders and non-governmental organizations’ consortiums in low-income countries.
Papers by Andreas Jud
Sleep Medicine, 2021
BACKGROUND Various outcomes like sleep deficiencies can endure into adulthood as consequences fro... more BACKGROUND Various outcomes like sleep deficiencies can endure into adulthood as consequences from child maltreatment (CM). Hyperarousal as an explanation for the development of insomnia can be applied on this association. However, research on this link is lacking. METHOD A PRISMA-guided systematic literature review was conducted by searching academic literature databases. Empirical studies with no restriction of publishing year were eligible. Search terms were predefined and related to CM. RESULTS Of 602 records, 13 studies met the inclusion criteria. Sample sizes ranged from 39 to 304, with a total of 1469 participants. The studies were heterogenous, therefore comparability was diminished. Yet tendencies for sleep-related hyperarousal in maltreated individuals were found especially for somatic hyperarousal. Cortical and cognitive hyperarousal was rarely examined. CONCLUSION Hyperarousal (heightened nighttime acticity and heart rate, diminished heart rate variability) was found in individuals with CM experiences in several studies. The insights into mechanisms of how CM and sleep problems are interrelated, can help to sensitize therapists to not oversee CM experiences when a patient reports sleep difficulties. Yet, more studies with more rigorous methods are needed to illuminate this topic. This gap in research regarding the consequences of CM is not acceptable.
National Systems of Child Protection, 2018
This chapter aims at providing an overview on legislation, organizational structure and processes... more This chapter aims at providing an overview on legislation, organizational structure and processes of child protection in Switzerland. For a relatively small country, the number of services is rather vast. This diversity arises from 26 cantonal and sub-cantonal variations of organizing child protection and is amplified by Switzerland’s cultural and linguistic variety. The roles in public child protection differ into risk assessment, deciding on child protection orders, and providing mandated services. They are assigned to at least two different types of organizations. Penal agencies are responsible for prosecuting child maltreatment offenses. Federal legislation entitles victims of crimes to support free-of-charge. Many private or semi-private agencies, such as specialized psychosocial counselling services or interdisciplinary child protection teams, are recognized as victim aid agencies and are therefore able to fund a part of the victim’s support through federal money. The new Child and Adult Protection Law, implemented in 2013, mandates professional sentinels to report to a child protection authority when a “person needs assistance”. Challenges discussed pertain, for example, to increasing the degree of standardization of risk assessment across cantons and to a lack of surveillance and shared data. Moreover, corporal punishment has still not been banned completely.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Numerous studies have addressed the indirect consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for children s... more Numerous studies have addressed the indirect consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for children such as social isolation or increases in reported child maltreatment. Research on the economic and sociopolitical consequences is scarce as they can only be evaluated with a time lag. To improve our understanding of future, long-term developments in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, we gathered findings from the still unexploited empirical literature on the aftermath of earlier pandemics, epidemics, and other infectious disease outbreaks. On top of this, we scrutinized research on past economic crises to interpret the link between changes in the economy and the health of children. Many of the side effects of battling the spread of the current pandemic, such as school closures, the stigma of infection, or conflicts about vaccines, are not novel and have already been documented in connection with previous infectious disease outbreaks. Results highlight that changes in the financial situ...
Victim, Perpetrator, or What Else?
Both research and child protection practice are still far away from having uniform definitions of... more Both research and child protection practice are still far away from having uniform definitions of violence against children. The different disciplines involved in the sectors of national child protection systems rely on separate discourses and terms; definitions are sometimes rather general or implicit, and operationalizations of important elements are rare. The various terms in use-child maltreatment, child abuse and neglect, child endangerment, children at risk, children in need, etc.speak of the variety not only of concepts, but also of practices. With respect to the latter, definitional issues are also issues of the scope and thresholds of intervention. This manuscript provides an overview of major terms and definitional approaches to violence against children and identifies eminent differences between them. Findings from several studies on the Swiss child protection system, including the first multi-sectorial national survey on agency responses to child maltreatment, illustrate how professionals use definitions and the consequences of having multiple definitional concepts for documenting reported cases. We conclude by advocating for a consensusbased interdisciplinary process of developing shared definitions of violence against children.
Journal of Interpersonal Violence
Introduction: Large-size studies on the prevalence of female intimate partner violence (IPV) vict... more Introduction: Large-size studies on the prevalence of female intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization in Germany are rare and partly outdated; representative data on male IPV victimization are lacking altogether. The present survey addresses these gaps. Method: For this study, the instrument of the WHO Multi-country study on women’s health and domestic violence has been translated to German and adapted to be used with females and males. A random route procedure in selecting household addresses has been used to gather data on IPV in combination with an omnibus survey on (mental) health issues. A total 2,503 respondents with a minimum age of 14 years have participated (response rate=44.1%). The resulting distribution of age and gender was representative for the German population above the age of 14 years. Results: A total of 57.6% of female participants and 50.8% of male participants have reported victimization by intimate partners during their lifespan; gender distribution diffe...
Victim, Perpetrator, or What Else?
Both research and child protection practice are still far away from having uniform definitions of... more Both research and child protection practice are still far away from having uniform definitions of violence against children. The different disciplines involved in the sectors of national child protection systems rely on separate discourses and terms; definitions are sometimes rather general or implicit, and operationalizations of important elements are rare. The various terms in use-child maltreatment, child abuse and neglect, child endangerment, children at risk, children in need, etc.speak of the variety not only of concepts, but also of practices. With respect to the latter, definitional issues are also issues of the scope and thresholds of intervention. This manuscript provides an overview of major terms and definitional approaches to violence against children and identifies eminent differences between them. Findings from several studies on the Swiss child protection system, including the first multi-sectorial national survey on agency responses to child maltreatment, illustrate how professionals use definitions and the consequences of having multiple definitional concepts for documenting reported cases. We conclude by advocating for a consensusbased interdisciplinary process of developing shared definitions of violence against children.
Zeitschrift für Klinische Psychologie und Psychotherapie, 2021
Zusammenfassung. Theoretischer Hintergrund: Frühkindliche Regulationsprobleme stehen in Verbindun... more Zusammenfassung. Theoretischer Hintergrund: Frühkindliche Regulationsprobleme stehen in Verbindung mit Schlafproblemen und unsicherem Elternverhalten. Störungsspezifische Behandlungsansätze sind vielfältig und unterscheiden sich deutlich hinsichtlich Qualität und Evidenzgrad. Fragestellung: Häufigkeiten von Schlafproblemen, elterliche Unsicherheiten, therapeutisch / beraterische Grundorientierungen und Konzepte werden erfasst und Unterschiede zwischen Einrichtungsarten untersucht. Methode: Die Umfrage wurde mit interdisziplinären Experten entwickelt. Eine deutschlandweite Datenbank (622 Einrichtungen) mit einer finalen Stichprobe von N = 160 wurde erstellt. Ergebnisse: Schlafprobleme gelten als häufigster Anmeldegrund (59 %), unsicheres Erziehungsverhalten als mehrheitlich relevant (66 %). Über 16 Behandlungskonzepte werden angewandt; je nach Einrichtungsart eher systemische ( d = 0.5), körperorientierte ( d = 0.5) oder somatisch-medizinische ( d = 0.7) Verfahren. Schlussfolgerung: ...
Child Abuse Review, 2021
Despite substantial evidence on the higher predictive validity of empirically derived instruments... more Despite substantial evidence on the higher predictive validity of empirically derived instruments compared to clinical judgement, the controversy on the best direction in child protection assessment is far from over. We introduce a conceptual framework that may help explain why this controversy continues. The framework distinguishes between internal and ecological requirements of assessment tools. First, existing frameworks have primarily focused on internal requirements that refer to the psychometric qualities of a tool, which are theoretically independent of the organisational context. For these internal requirements, we suggest a distinction between three types of validity: construct validity, predictive validity, and indicative validity. Second, the degree of fit with the ecological requirements determines how well the tool works in a specific organisation: for example, whether a tool makes sense to practitioners, whether they readily adopt or tacitly adapt it, or how well it fits with the objectives of the organisation and the goals of individual workers. We define four such requirements: adequacy, organisational suitability, practicality and utility. The framework is illustrated with data from an ethnographic study in Switzerland. The framework leads to questions that may guide managers and frontline workers in developing, implementing and evaluating standardised risk assessment in child protection.
Klinische Pädiatrie, 2021
Zusammenfassung Hintergrund Es gibt Hinweise, dass Fachkräfte im Gesundheitswesen unsicher in Bez... more Zusammenfassung Hintergrund Es gibt Hinweise, dass Fachkräfte im Gesundheitswesen unsicher in Bezug auf die rechtlichen Rahmenbedingungen sind, wenn sie in Kontakt mit Kindern kommen, bei denen der Verdacht auf eine Kindeswohlgefährdung aufgekommen ist. Hieraus könnte sich ein inkonsistenter Umgang mit derartigen Fällen ergeben, der im schlimmsten Fall zu einer weiteren Gefährdung betroffener Kinder führt. Mit der vorliegenden Studie sollte eine empirische Grundlage geschaffen werden, um die Kenntnis des Rechtsrahmens bei Fachkräften im Gesundheitswesen zu untersuchen. Methoden Es erfolgte eine Befragung in Deutschland tätiger Kinder- und Jugendmediziner, Kinderchirurgen, Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatern sowie psychologischer und Kinder- und Jugendlichenpsychotherapeuten zur Kenntnis der Rahmenbedingungen. Ergebnisse In allen Berufsgruppen fühlt sich eine Mehrzahl der Befragten unsicher in der Anwendung des Rechtsrahmens im Alltag. Nur eine Minderheit kann die rechtlichen Regelungen de...
La protection de l’enfance : gestion de l’incertitude et du risque
Pour éclairer le champ de l’étude sous différentes perspectives, nous avons collecté des données ... more Pour éclairer le champ de l’étude sous différentes perspectives, nous avons collecté des données de nature diverse concernant différents aspects de la protection des mineurs en droit civil. Pour ce faire, trois méthodes distinctes (triangulation des méthodes) ont été utilisées : Analyse des dossiers : nous avons saisi, document par document, les dossiers de 164 cas de mesures protectrices de l’enfant dans quatre cantons ou parties de cantons, afin de collecter des indicati..
Child Abuse Review, 2021
Despite substantial evidence on the higher predictive validity of empirically derived instruments... more Despite substantial evidence on the higher predictive validity of empirically derived instruments compared to clinical judgement, the controversy on the best direction in child protection assessment is far from over. We introduce a conceptual framework that may help explain why this controversy continues. The framework distinguishes between internal and ecological requirements of assessment tools. First, existing frameworks have primarily focused on internal requirements that refer to the psychometric qualities of a tool, which are theoretically independent of the organisational context. For these internal requirements, we suggest a distinction between three types of validity: construct validity, predictive validity, and indicative validity. Second, the degree of fit with the ecological requirements determines how well the tool works in a specific organisation: for example, whether a tool makes sense to practitioners, whether they readily adopt or tacitly adapt it, or how well it fits with the objectives of the organisation and the goals of individual workers. We define four such requirements: adequacy, organisational suitability, practicality and utility. The framework is illustrated with data from an ethnographic study in Switzerland. The framework leads to questions that may guide managers and frontline workers in developing, implementing and evaluating standardised risk assessment in child protection.
Leitfaden zu Früherfassung und Vorgehen in der ärztlichen Praxis.
Obschon das Problem der sexuellen Gewalt an Kindern und Jugendlichen als gesellschaftlich dringli... more Obschon das Problem der sexuellen Gewalt an Kindern und Jugendlichen als gesellschaftlich dringlich erkannt ist, sind aktuell genaue Angaben zur Häufigkeit sexueller Viktimisierung von Kindern und Jugendlichen in Deutschland aufgrund der vorhandenen Daten nicht hinreichend möglich. Zwar sind Populationsstudien vorhanden, allerdings weichen die Studien in Definitionen und Forschungsdesign stark voneinander ab. Entsprechend schwanken die Angaben zur prozentualen Betroffenheit von sexueller Viktimisierung in den vorhandenen Studien zwischen niedrigen einstelligen Prozentangaben und Angaben gegen 20 % der Stichprobe. Die großen Unterschiede in den Häufigkeitsangaben teilen sich die deutschen Studien mit der internationalen Literatur. Erhärtet ist lediglich, dass es sich um ein Phänomen mit bedeutsamer Größenordnung handelt. Als gesichertes Ergebnis zur Prävalenz kann trotz stark schwankender Häufigkeiten die höhere Betroffenheit des weiblichen Geschlechts gelten. Zwar mag diese auch dur...
Additional file1: Appendice 1. Participating professional associations
Praxis der Kinderpsychologie und Kinderpsychiatrie
Reported cases of (sexual) abuse in institutions as well as the results of surveys show that viol... more Reported cases of (sexual) abuse in institutions as well as the results of surveys show that violence against children and adolescents, but also against adults, occurs also in medical institutions. There are still few studies on the frequency of these cases. However, the cases that have come to public attention show that medical institutions bear systemic risk factors for such assaults. On the other hand, medical institutions also play an important role in child protection, since many children and adolescents affected by maltreatment including sexual abuse come into contact with the medical system. It is necessary that medical institutions deal with this problem and develop respective institutional protection concepts. A protection concept is a system of measures that ensure better protection against assaults within an organisation. Important steps are analysis of risk factors, structural changes, the creation of plan of procedures and the development of an institutional attitude that assaults are not tolerated. Although the development of protection concepts takes time and resources, it has many advantages for institutions, such as an increased sense of security for professionals, because they know how to proceed in such situation. Now that the obligation to draw up protection concepts is anchored in the quality management guideline of the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA), all hospitals and practices must set out to develop appropriate concepts.
Schutz vor sexueller Gewalt und Übergriffen in Institutionen
Kinder und Jugendliche in institutioneller Erziehung haben ein erhohtes Risiko, Opfer von Gewalt ... more Kinder und Jugendliche in institutioneller Erziehung haben ein erhohtes Risiko, Opfer von Gewalt zu werden. Obwohl diese Problematik auch im deutschsprachigen Raum lange bekannt ist und immer wieder auch Ubergriffe und unangemessene Erziehungspraktiken fur kurzzeitige Aufmerksamkeit sorgten, wurde insbesondere in Deutschland erst in den letzten Jahren begonnen, sich systematisch mit dieser Thematik auseinanderzusetzen. In diesem Kapitel sollen daher aktuelle Befunde zur Haufigkeit von v. a. sexuellen Ubergriffen gegenuber Kindern und Jugendlichen im institutionellen Kontext dargestellt werden. Dabei zeigt sich nach bisherigem Forschungsstand, dass sexuelle Ubergriffe in Einrichtungen v. a. unter Kindern und Jugendlichen stattfinden, wahrend sexuelle Gewalt durch Erwachsene deutlich seltener auftritt. Groser Forschungsbedarf besteht zudem noch in Bezug auf korperliche Gewalt in Einrichtungen und differenzierte Studien mit Kindern und Jugendlichen mit korperlichen und geistigen Behinderungen in institutioneller Erziehung.
La protection de l’enfance : gestion de l’incertitude et du risque
Uploads
Publications by Andreas Jud
Papers by Andreas Jud