Focardi M, Grassi S, Raddi S, Rosati ME, Cazzato F, D'Onofrio P, Doretti V, Bianchi I, Vetrugno G, Oliva A, Pinchi V. Trend in 167 cases of minors witnessing violence: The role played by COVID-19 pandemic.
Front Pediatr 2022;
10:949922. [PMID:
36275057 PMCID:
PMC9581130 DOI:
10.3389/fped.2022.949922]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2022] [Accepted: 09/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND
There currently is no evidence that COVID-19 has had an impact on the rates of psychological abuses occurring when a minor witnesses interpersonal violence.
AIM
Our aim was to describe the accesses of the last four years to the Emergency Department of a tertiary hospital (Careggi University Hospital-Florence, Italy) due to this issue and then to evaluate whether the COVID-19 has had an impact on this trend.
METHODS
We collected data regarding cases of abuse in which at least a minor had reportedly witnessed the event. Medical records stored between January 1, 2018 to January 1, 2022 were analyzed, extracting sex, age and nationality of the victim; sex of the perpetrator and relationship with the victim; known previous episodes of abuse in the medical history of the victim; setting of the abuse (domestic vs. non-domestic); type of abuse (physical, psychological, sexual); whether the perpetrator was under the influence of alcohol/drugs; whether the victim was hospitalized; prognosis of the victim; number, relation with the victim and involvement in the abuse (as co-victim) of the minor(s) who witnessed the abuse.
RESULTS
A total of 167 eligible cases were registered. 69% of victims had previous episodes of abuse. The perpetrators were all known and mainly males (96%).The abuses were mainly domestic (79%). In 74% of the cases only a type of violence was perpetrated. In 12% of the cases, the minors were also victims of physical abuse. No statistically significant relationships were found between the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and the changes in the number of cases of domestic abuse (p = 0.07), physical abuse (p = 0.62), psychological abuse (p = 0.83) or sexual abuse (p = 0.88). However, during the institutional lockdown in Italy (March-May 2022) only two cases occurred - a number that did not allow period-specific statistical inference.
CONCLUSIONS
Empowering the hospital policies specifically aimed at identifying and protecting the victims of violence/witnessed violence remains a critical goal from both a public health and medico-legal point of view.
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