SynthesisBMC pediatrics2020
Identifying children exposed to maltreatment: a systematic review update.
Synthesis in BMC pediatrics, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Depression Symptom Trajectories Following Child Maltreatment: A Systematic Review of Longitudinal Studies from Adolescence to Young Adulthood.Trauma, violence & abuse · 2026Pooled it
- Interventions from pregnancy to two years after birth for parents experiencing complex post-traumatic stress disorder and/or with childhood experience of maltreatment.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2023Pooled it
- Family Needs Checklist: Development of a Mobile Application for Parents with Children to Assess the Risk for Child Maltreatment.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- The mediating role of distress tolerance in the relationship between childhood maltreatment and anxiety in a sample of Lebanese adults.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Instability in the environment and children's in-school self-regulatory behaviors.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Physical child abuse and self-reported health concerns: A case-control study including police-reported cases and unreported controls.PloS one · 2025Article
- Systematic review of child maltreatment screening tools used by different occupational groups: a study protocol.BMJ open · 2024Article
- Let it go, let it go: Stop measuring child maltreatment as a binary yes/no.Child abuse & neglect · 2024Review
- Insights Into Child Abuse and Neglect in the Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia (DMV) Area: Evidence and Opportunities.Global pediatric health · 2024Review
- The Development of a Screening Tool for Childcare Professionals to Detect and Refer Infant and Toddler Maltreatment and Trauma: A Tale of Four Countries.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Child Abuse: Adherence of Clinical Management to Guidelines for Diagnosis of Physical Maltreatment and Neglect in Emergency Settings.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Child Maltreatment and Intimate Partner Violence in Mental Health Settings.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Domestic violence and abuse in local child safeguarding policy: How is the problem represented?Health & social care in the community · 2022Review
- Electronic Health Record Tools to Identify Child Maltreatment: Scoping Literature Review and Key Informant Interviews.Academic pediatrics · 2022Article
- Prevalence of Injuries Among Medicaid Enrolled Infants Prior to Child Abuse and Neglect.Child maltreatment · 2022Article
- Digital games and virtual reality applications in child abuse: A scoping review and conceptual framework.PloS one · 2022Article
- Completing the picture: a proposed framework for child maltreatment surveillance and research in Canada.Health promotion and chronic disease prevention in Canada : research, policy and practice · 2021Article
- Evaluation of the efficacy and impact of a clinical prediction tool to identify maltreatment associated with children's burns.BMJ paediatrics open · 2021Article
- Recognizing and Responding to Child Maltreatment: Strategies to Apply When Delivering Family-Based Treatment for Eating Disorders.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2020Article
- Estimating the Prevalence of Child Abuse and Neglect Among Adolescents in Primary Care Through Diagnoses Codes and Free-Text EHR Clinical Notes.Journal of pediatric health care : official publication of National Association of Pediatric Nurse Associates & PractitionersArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundChild maltreatment affects a significant number of children globally. Strategies have been developed to identify children suspected of having been exposed to maltreatment with the aim of reducing further maltreatment and impairment. This systematic review evaluates the accuracy of strategies for identifying children exposed to maltreatment.
methodsWe conducted a systematic search of seven databases: Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Cochrane Libraries, Sociological Abstracts and the Education Resources Information Center. We included studies published from 1961 to July 2, 2019 estimating the accuracy of instruments for identifying potential maltreatment of children, including neglect, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and sexual abuse. We extracted data about accuracy and narratively synthesised the evidence. For five studies-where the population and setting matched known prevalence estimates in an emergency department setting-we calculated false positives and negatives. We assessed risk of bias using QUADAS-2.
resultsWe included 32 articles (representing 31 studies) that evaluated various identification strategies, including three screening tools (SPUTOVAMO checklist, Escape instrument, and a 6-item screening questionnaire for child sex trafficking). No studies evaluated the effects of identification strategies on important outcomes for children. All studies were rated as having serious risk of bias (often because of verification bias). The findings suggest that use of the SPUTOVAMO and Escape screening tools at the population level (per 100,000) would result in hundreds of children being missed and thousands of children being over identified.
conclusionsThere is low to very low certainty evidence that the use of screening tools may result in high numbers of children being falsely suspected or missed. These harms may outweigh the potential benefits of using such tools in practice (PROSPERO 2016:CRD42016039659).
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.