Status Report
Conceptual Framework for Child Maltreatment Surveillance

Lil Tonmyr and Gordon Phaneuf

The Child Maltreatment Division of the Bureau of Reproductive and Child Health, in partnership with many stakeholders, is developing a capacity for national surveillance of child abuse and neglect that consists of data collection, analysis and response. Response activities include information dissemination, knowledge development, policy analysis and targeted epidemiologic risk assessment studies to support prevention and intervention programs directed toward children and youth who are at risk.

The Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect

The Child Maltreatment Division is undertaking the Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (CIS) as a cornerstone of a national surveillance system. The CIS collects data from participating child welfare agencies in each of the provinces and territories in Canada in order to advance the national knowledge base on the extent and dynamics of child abuse and neglect. A description of the study appeared previously in Chronic Diseases in Canada [1998;19(2):71-2]. The first cycle of data collection and analysis is near completion, and the data collection cycle will be repeated at set intervals. The co-operation of provincial and territorial governments is crucial to the study's success and it is hoped that each of the provinces and territories will participate on an ongoing basis.

Development of a Conceptual Framework for Child Maltreatment Surveillance

A conceptual framework is being designed to help guide the development of a national surveillance system for child maltreatment. The framework builds on the strengths and lessons learned through the implementation of the initial cycle of the CIS. It is intended to identify and suggest future paths for action by identifying priority areas for future monitoring activities; specifying appropriate avenues for research and analysis; providing direction for partnership development and role definition; and examining competing theories on child maltreatment.

Objectives

The objectives of the conceptual framework are to examine the following items.

• the relation between child maltreatment theory and public health surveillance
• the conceptual context in which maltreatment surveillance activities should be developed
• the interplay between the conceptual and functional aspects of child maltreatment surveillance
• the "fit" between child maltreatment surveillance and population health
• the different approaches to child maltreatment surveillance with an assessment of their respective merits and limitations
• the prospects for strengthening surveillance of reported and unreported abuse
• the gaps in child maltreatment data collection and research

Approach

The project will include a literature review of child maltreatment theories, consultations with key informants domestically and internationally (World Health Organization [WHO], United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund [UNICEF], Pan American Health Organization [PAHO], Centers for Disease Prevention and Control), an expert review and the integration of a population health approach to child maltreatment surveillance.

Expert Review

An international expert advisory committee has been established to assist in the review of the framework. The committee has representation from the WHO, PAHO, The Founders Network, the Kempe Children's Center, the American Humane Association, Weststat, Ryerson University, Cornell University, University of British Columbia, University of New Hampshire and the Laboratory Centre for Disease Control.

Contractor

David Wolfe, at the Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, has been awarded the contract to help develop the conceptual framework. Dr Wolfe is the author of several books on child abuse, and he is the chair of the Committee on Child Abuse in Peacetime for the International Working Group on Trauma, organized by the United Nations. He has undertaken a range of research activities for Health Canada, including writing a paper for the National Forum on Health.

Lil Tonmyr and Gordon Phaneuf, Child Maltreatment Division, Bureau of Reproductive and Child Health, Laboratory Centre for Disease Control, Health Canada, Tunney's Pasture, AL: 0601E2, Ottawa, Ontario  K1A 0L2; Fax: (613) 941-9927

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