The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on child maltreatment: An integrative review

The COVID-19 pandemic caused an increase in stressors for both children and their caregivers, which could have led to an increase in child maltreatment (CM) cases. It is not completely understood, however, whether the incidence of child maltreatment changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this review is to investigate how the COVID-19 pandemic and stay-at-home orders affected child maltreatment investigations in hospitals and emergency departments as well as how COVID-19 affected parental stress and high-risk behaviors for child maltreatment. A review of the literature was conducted using Covidence and the PRISMA guidelines. Twenty-five articles were included in this review. Seven articles reported an increase in child maltreatment cases in the emergency department while five reported a decrease and three reported no change. The COVID-19 specific factors that demonstrated an effect on parental stress and high-risk behaviors for CM included parental stress, job or financial loss, parental anxiety or depression and physical fights or violence between parents. In conclusion, this integrative review can help healthcare providers understand how child maltreatment was affected during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as what factors can put a child at higher risk for child maltreatment.