TY - JOUR
T1 - Examining resilience among child protection professionals during COVID-19
T2 - A global comparison across 57 countries
AU - Katz, Carmit
AU - Jacobson, Ma'ayan
AU - Priolo Filho, Sidnei R.
AU - Goldfarb, Deborah
AU - Liu, Jenny
AU - Zibetti, Murilo R.
AU - Varela, Natalia
AU - Attrash Najjar, Afnan
AU - Bérubé, Annie
AU - Collin-Vézina, Delphine
AU - Maguire-Jack, Kathryn
AU - Massarweh, Nadia
AU - Munir, Akhtar
AU - Tiwari, Ashwini
AU - Wekerle, Christine
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Background: The COVID-19 pandemic led to numerous challenges for child protection professionals (CPPs). However, limited research has investigated the interwoven concepts of coping, resilience, and mental distress among CPPs during COVID-19 on a global scale. Objectives: This study aimed to explore CPPs' practice, resilience, and mental distress during COVID-19, the relationship between their resilience and mental distress, the global stability of the Multi-System Model of Resilience (MSMR), and how CPPs' resilience varied according to the Human Development Index (HDI). Methods: Data were collected from 420 CPPs in 57 countries across five continents between July and September 2021. Participants completed an online questionnaire on demographics, resilience, mental distress, coping, and perceptions of child protection during the pandemic in their native languages. The analyses compared the countries grouped according to HDI using means comparisons, correlations, and multiple linear regressions. A two-path analysis was also performed to identify variables associated with behavioral resilience engagement and mental distress. Results: The findings indicated that CPPs' perceptions of COVID-19's impact on child maltreatment varied in correlation with their country's HDI. There were also significant HDI-based differences regarding the perceived opportunity to engage in resilient behavior and its helpfulness. Years of professional experience, internal resilience, and external resilience were shown to be significant predictors of mental distress among CPPs during the pandemic, and resilience mediated how years of experience predicted mental distress. Conclusions: This study emphasized the importance of experience and internal resilience for CPPs’ psychological well-being. It also provides empirical evidence to support the MSMR theory on a global scale. Additionally, it demonstrates how the perceived changes in child maltreatment during COVID-19 may be associated with regional HDI. Lastly, the opportunities CPPs had to engage in resilient behavior and how much this helped them was associated with regional HDI, but not in the way originally predicted. Study results also hold implications for how practice and policy may be altered to help CPPs cope better during times of crisis and generally.
AB - Background: The COVID-19 pandemic led to numerous challenges for child protection professionals (CPPs). However, limited research has investigated the interwoven concepts of coping, resilience, and mental distress among CPPs during COVID-19 on a global scale. Objectives: This study aimed to explore CPPs' practice, resilience, and mental distress during COVID-19, the relationship between their resilience and mental distress, the global stability of the Multi-System Model of Resilience (MSMR), and how CPPs' resilience varied according to the Human Development Index (HDI). Methods: Data were collected from 420 CPPs in 57 countries across five continents between July and September 2021. Participants completed an online questionnaire on demographics, resilience, mental distress, coping, and perceptions of child protection during the pandemic in their native languages. The analyses compared the countries grouped according to HDI using means comparisons, correlations, and multiple linear regressions. A two-path analysis was also performed to identify variables associated with behavioral resilience engagement and mental distress. Results: The findings indicated that CPPs' perceptions of COVID-19's impact on child maltreatment varied in correlation with their country's HDI. There were also significant HDI-based differences regarding the perceived opportunity to engage in resilient behavior and its helpfulness. Years of professional experience, internal resilience, and external resilience were shown to be significant predictors of mental distress among CPPs during the pandemic, and resilience mediated how years of experience predicted mental distress. Conclusions: This study emphasized the importance of experience and internal resilience for CPPs’ psychological well-being. It also provides empirical evidence to support the MSMR theory on a global scale. Additionally, it demonstrates how the perceived changes in child maltreatment during COVID-19 may be associated with regional HDI. Lastly, the opportunities CPPs had to engage in resilient behavior and how much this helped them was associated with regional HDI, but not in the way originally predicted. Study results also hold implications for how practice and policy may be altered to help CPPs cope better during times of crisis and generally.
KW - COVID-19
KW - Child Protection Professionals (CPPs)
KW - Global
KW - Human Development Index (HDI)
KW - Mental Distress
KW - Resilience
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85184001575&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.chiabu.2024.106659
DO - 10.1016/j.chiabu.2024.106659
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C2 - 38326165
AN - SCOPUS:85184001575
SN - 0145-2134
JO - Child Abuse and Neglect
JF - Child Abuse and Neglect
M1 - 106659
ER -