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. 2023 Feb;28(1):176-195.
doi: 10.1177/10775595221079308. Epub 2022 Mar 3.

Leveraging Administrative Data to Better Understand and Address Child Maltreatment: A Scoping Review of Data Linkage Studies

Emma Soneson  1 , Shruti Das  2 , Anne-Marie Burn  1 , Marije van Melle  1 , Joanna K Anderson  1 , Mina Fazel  3 , Peter Fonagy  4 , Tamsin Ford  1 , Ruth Gilbert  5 , Katie Harron  5 , Emma Howarth  6 , Ayla Humphrey  1 , Peter B Jones  1 , Anna Moore  1
Affiliations

Leveraging Administrative Data to Better Understand and Address Child Maltreatment: A Scoping Review of Data Linkage Studies

Emma Soneson et al. Child Maltreat. 2023 Feb.

Abstract

Background: This scoping review aimed to overview studies that used administrative data linkage in the context of child maltreatment to improve our understanding of the value that data linkage may confer for policy, practice, and research.

Methods: We searched MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and ERIC electronic databases in June 2019 and May 2020 for studies that linked two or more datasets (at least one of which was administrative in nature) to study child maltreatment. We report findings with numerical and narrative summary.

Results: We included 121 studies, mainly from the United States or Australia and published in the past decade. Data came primarily from social services and health sectors, and linkage processes and data quality were often not described in sufficient detail to align with current reporting guidelines. Most studies were descriptive in nature and research questions addressed fell under eight themes: descriptive epidemiology, risk factors, outcomes, intergenerational transmission, predictive modelling, intervention/service evaluation, multi-sector involvement, and methodological considerations/advancements.

Conclusions: Included studies demonstrated the wide variety of ways in which data linkage can contribute to the public health response to child maltreatment. However, how research using linked data can be translated into effective service development and monitoring, or targeting of interventions, is underexplored in terms of privacy protection, ethics and governance, data quality, and evidence of effectiveness.

Keywords: child maltreatment, abuse, neglect, data linkage, administrative data, data analytics, policy, public health, population health.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
PRISMA flow diagram.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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