Development of methods for continuous child maltreatment surveillance

Child maltreatment surveillance is a complicated undertaking; one that is best informed by a range of data collection approaches. Among the reasons for the diversity of methods is the need to have access to high quality data... [ view full abstract ]

Child maltreatment surveillance is a complicated undertaking; one that is best informed by a range of data collection approaches. Among the reasons for the diversity of methods is the need to have access to high quality data on a continuous and uninterrupted basis. Among other goals continuous data are essential for monitoring macro and micro changes and observing trends that may impact systems of prevention and intervention. These in turn have important implications for assessing the effectiveness of these systems and the identification of key leverage points for policy development.
As with all methods of child maltreatment surveillance continuous data collection is fraught with methodological challenges. Among these are the difficulties of implementing data collection programs, sustaining such programs for the long-term, improving data quality, assessing data validity, and triangulating data with other types of data collection methodologies.
The three presentations planned for this session describe nascent efforts to address the collection of continuous data across several countries, and system domains. The first presentation describes the methodological framing adopted through a collaborative project to simultaneously develop child welfare information systems that are also capable of producing child maltreatment surveillance data across the three northern territories of Canada; Yukon, Great Northwest Territory, and Nunavut. The second presentation highlights the progress and challenge of an initiative to develop a Canton based administrative data surveillance program in Switzerland with its diverse cultures. The third describe the state of methodological progress in developing, adapting, and validating a range of approaches to using social media for continuous data collection that might be applied to child maltreatment surveillance; a continuous data resource with great promise, but many challenges.