Addressing caregiver-child conflict in public: Barriers and facilitators to bystander engagement

Abstract

Child maltreatment is a serious public health issue. Bystander models have been applied in sexual violence and bullying prevention, with little application in public child maltreatment. Support Over Silence for KIDS (SOSFK) is a bystander program aimed at addressing public child maltreatment by supporting caregivers and their children. This study describes formative research conducted to inform the development of SOSFK. Data were collected from focus groups with community members (n = 29), hospital personnel (n = 60), and caregivers (n = 23) from aMidwestern city to examine barriers and facilitators to becoming an active bystander in cases of public child maltreatment. Data were analyzed through mixed content analysis. Participants highlighted contextual, situational, and intrapersonal factors that serve as both barriers and facilitators to bystander intervention in cases of public child mistreatment. The lack of and/or fragmented sense of community and perceived situational danger were identified as barriers to intervention. A shared sense of responsibility for caring for children in the community and having a personal relationship with the parent-child dyad were identified as facilitators to bystander intervention. Results from this study provide implications for the development of programs to support caregivers during stressful parenting moments and might reduce public instances of child maltreatment.

Keywords:

• Bystander engagement
• child maltreatment
• prevention
• qualitative research

Acknowledgment

The research and the contents of this manuscript are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official view of the MFH.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest associated with this research or this publication. The authors declare no financial relationships relevant to this work that could have influenced its outcomes.

Ethical standards and informed consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation [institutional and national] and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Missouri Foundation for Health (MFH), Grant No. 16-0421-CF-16 (PI: Nancy Weaver).