Child maltreatment by nursing staff and caregivers in German institutions: A population-representative analysis

A Systematic Review of the Prevalence and Correlates of Emotional Violence by Teachers

There is increasing evidence for the deleterious impact of emotional violence on children`s well-being and development. This systematic review focused on a) the prevalence and (b) correlates of emotional violence by teachers. A literature search of quantitative and peer-reviewed studies published in English between 1980 and April 2021 was conducted. Eighty-four studies met the inclusion criteria. Studies represented all geographical regions of the world, were predominantly cross-sectional and of moderate quality. Studies were heterogeneous in terms of their samples, conceptualization, and measurement of emotional violence. Results indicated that emotional violence by teachers is prevalent across cultural settings, although large variations within and between regions are noted. It is related to mental health, behavioral and academic problems of children above and beyond physical violence by teachers and victimization by peers and parents. Boys are at higher risk of experiencing emotional violence by teachers than girls. Family dysfunction, low socioeconomic status (of the family or the community), and violent school environments appear to increase risk as well. The observed patterns of co-occurrence of emotional violence with physical violence by teachers and victimization by peers as well as perpetration of violence against peers and teachers lend support to notions of poly-victimization and cycles of violence in the school settings. Future research should use representative surveys, examine antecedents, and consequences of emotional violence by teachers using longitudinal and experimental designs and evaluate interventions to prevent emotional violence by teachers.

VIOLÊNCIA INSTITUCIONAL HOSPITALAR NA PRÁTICA DE CUIDADO À CRIANÇA: ANÁLISE DO DISCURSO NA PERSPECTIVA FOUCAULTIANA

RESUMO Objetivo: interpretar discursos de profissionais de saúde e de acompanhantes acerca da violência institucional hospitalar nas práticas de cuidado à criança, fundamentado na concepção foucaultiana de disciplina. Método: pesquisa qualitativa descritiva exploratória tendo como campo de estudo uma unidade pediátrica de um hospital universitário em Salvador/Bahia. Participaram do estudo 10 acompanhantes de crianças hospitalizadas e 39 profissionais de saúde. A coleta de dados ocorreu de novembro de 2018 a outubro de 2019 utilizando-se a entrevista semiestruturada. Na interpretação dos dados, foi empregada a análise do discurso à luz do pensamento foucaultiano. Resultados: a violência institucional nas práticas de cuidado é compreendida pelo dispositivo disciplinar, tendo como elementos: controle do tempo e separação espacial; controle dos corpos; normas e adestramento; e o exame minucioso. Estando o cuidado balizado por tais elementos, foram identificadas situações de omissão de cuidados, desrespeito à autonomia, privacidade, falta de escuta, falta de atenção, danos físicos, privações e múltiplas manipulações do corpo infantil, resultando em violações na dignidade humana destes indivíduos. Conclusão: é necessário que profissionais, usuários e gestores e a comunidade acadêmica proponham uma mudança nos modos de atenção à criança hospitalizada, fortalecendo a difusão e debate dos direitos humanos nos serviços de saúde que atendem crianças e suas famílias.

Vorgehen bei Verdacht auf sexuellen Missbrauch von Kindern und Jugendlichen durch medizinisch-therapeutisches Personal

Zusammenfassung. Theoretischer Hintergrund: Im letzten Jahr erreichten mehrere Verdachtsfälle von Professional Sexual Misconduct (PSM) die Medizinische Kinderschutzhotline. Insbesondere meldeten sich Heilberufler_innen, die Hinweise auf einen sexuellen Missbrauch von Kindern/Jugendlichen durch Kolleg_innen hatten und nicht wussten, wie sie vorgehen sollen. Fragestellung: Zusammenstellung der aktuellen Daten zu PSM und sexuellem Missbrauch von Minderjährigen im Gesundheitswesen. Methode: Ausgehend von diesen Anfragen wurde eine selektiven Literaturrecherche zu Definition, Epidemiologie und rechtlichen Rahmenbedingungen von PSM sowie mögliche Hinweise für PSM durch Kolleg_innen durchgeführt. Ergebnisse: PSM durch Angehörige der Gesundheitsberufe stellt ein relevantes Problem dar. Bei Verdacht auf PSM sollten Kolleg_innen nicht mit dem Verdacht konfrontiert werden, sondern die Führungsebene informiert werden. Die Einbeziehung der Strafverfolgungsbehörden sollte sorgfältig abgewogen werden. Eine Berücksichtigung der Bedürfnisse und des Willens der betroffenen Patient_innen ist hierbei zentral. Diskussion und Schlussfolgerung: PSM in der Medizin ist ein hochkomplexes und bisher wenig erforschtes Thema.

Häufigkeiten von Übergriffen auf Kinder und Jugendliche durch Angehörige der Heil- und Pflegeberufe

Zusammenfassung. Theoretischer Hintergrund: Kindesmisshandlung, -missbrauch und Vernachlässigung stellen ein gesamtgesellschaftliches Entwicklungsrisiko für Kinder in Deutschland dar. Zweithäufigster Kontext des Geschehens nach dem familiären Umfeld sind Institutionen. Fragestellung: Der vorliegende Artikel gibt eine Übersicht zu Häufigkeiten von Übergriffen durch Angehörige der Heil- und Pflegeberufe mit Schwerpunkt auf dem kinder- und jugendpsychiatrischen/-psychotherapeutischen Bereich. Methode: Mittels Literaturrecherche wird der Forschungsstand zum Thema dargestellt. Ergebnisse: Neben Auswertungen zu Zwangsmaßnahmen, welche von Betroffenen häufig als viktimisierend erlebt werden, existieren für Deutschland zwei repräsentative retrospektive Befragungen zum medizinischen Bereich. Hier ergaben sich Prävalenzen zwischen einem Fünftel und einem Drittel der Befragten, die mindestens eine Form von Gewalt oder Vernachlässigung bejahten. Diskussion und Schlussfolgerung: Neben alarmierenden Zahlen zeigt sich der große Bedarf an weiterer Forschung zum Thema.

#patientstoo - Professional sexual misconduct by healthcare professionals towards patients: a representative study

AIMS

Sexual border violations are a severe problem in the healthcare system. Studies using non-probability samples indicate a high prevalence of professional sexual misconduct (PSM) towards patients. However, valid prevalence rates are lacking.

METHODS

We did a cross-sectional, observational study in Germany from February to April 2020. By different sampling steps, a probability sample of the German population above the age of 14 was generated. The final sample consisted 2503 persons (50.2% female, mean age: 49.5 years). Participants were asked about sexual contacts with and sexual harassment by healthcare professionals. Using descriptive statistics, prevalence rates of PSM were estimated.

RESULTS

PSM was reported by 56 (4.5%) female and 17 (1.4%) male participants. In detail, 28 (2.2%) female and 10 (0.8%) male participants reported sexual contacts with healthcare professionals. One third of these sexual contacts took place before the age of 18 and one third against the will of the patients. 40 (3.2%) female and 8 (0.6%) male participants reported unnecessary physical examinations, 31 (2.5%) female and 7 (0.6%) male participants reported sexual harassment. The majority of perpetrators were male.

CONCLUSIONS

Our data provide an important first insight into the prevalence of PSM by healthcare professionals towards patients in a representative sample. Results suggest a high prevalence of PSM in the general population of Germany. Preventive measures to increase awareness of PSM and concepts for protection of patients are needed.

[Protection Against Violence and Abuse in Medical Institutions - Reasons, Prevalence and Implications for Practice]

Protection Against Violence and Abuse in Medical Institutions - Reasons, Prevalence and Implications for Practice 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.

Development and randomized controlled trial evaluation of E-learning trainings for professionals

BACKGROUND

Child maltreatment and consequently child protection are highly relevant and current issues in our society. Medical institutions are widely regarded as places of healing, care and support. But they also hold risk factors to promote child maltreatment. Efforts have to be taken in order to offer help to victims by medical institutions and to reduce risk factors for child maltreatment. Therefore, health professionals in the field of child protection must be trained and sensitized for these two purposes. The Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry / Psychotherapy at the University Hospital of Ulm in Germany is developing E-Learning courses directed to health professionals in order to create flexible advanced training courses for dealing with child abuse, and to increase competences in child protection. Due to their specific role in (institutional) child protection, three courses and their evaluation will be presented in this article. The aim of the studies is to examine if those online-courses are increasing knowledge and skills in child protection and how satisfied participants are with course quality.

METHODS

Randomised Controlled Trials (RCT) were conducted with one wait-list control group and one group participating in the course (= intervention group). The RCTs took place from October 2016 to March 2017 for two courses, and from May 2017 to September 2017 for the other course. Data were analysed with mixed design ANOVA. For evaluation of user satisfaction, descriptive statistics are reported.

RESULTS

For all three courses, knowledge and practical capacities on the topic of the intervention group raised significantly in comparison to the values of the control group. Furthermore, participants of the course for managers felt better prepared to meet their responsibilities in regard to institutional child protection and came up with ideas on how to implement safeguarding standards in their institution. Overall, participants were very satisfied with the structure and the content of the courses.

CONCLUSIONS

The article shows that the online-courses are an effective and well-accepted approach to train professionals in topics regarding (institutional) child protection by contributing to the participants´ abilities to create medical facilities into a place of competence and protection.

Violence against children and adolescents by nursing staff: prevalence rates and implications for practice

BACKGROUND

International studies show that child maltreatment is a widespread but often underestimated problem that causes high individual, social and economic costs. Child maltreatment is an important topic for the medical sector as well. On the one hand, affected persons often seek support and help from healthcare professionals, but on the other hand, assaults can also occur in medical institutions by healthcare professionals. Surprisingly, there is hardly any data on the frequency of child maltreatment by healthcare professionals in general and particularly by nursing staff.

METHODS

Therefore, in a large representative survey of the German population of 2,516 subjects aged between 14 and 91, the experience of child maltreatment in medical institutions by nursing staff was assessed retrospectively.

RESULTS

Of the 46 subjects who had an inpatient stay in a child and adolescent psychiatry before the age of 18, 33.3% reported to have experienced maltreatment by nursing staff, while 17.3% of the 474 persons who had an inpatient stay in general or pediatric hospitals experienced maltreatment by nursing staff. All forms of maltreatment were significantly more frequent in psychiatric compared to general and pediatric hospitals.

CONCLUSIONS

The results of our representative retrospective survey demonstrate that maltreatment by nursing staff are not rare individual cases, but that medical facilities bear systemic risks for assault. Therefore, it is necessary that all medical institutions, in particular psychiatric hospitals, address this issue. In order to reduce the risk for assaults, it is important not only to implement structural measures but also to develop an attitude that emphasizes zero tolerance for violence against children and adolescents.