The definitions of psychological abuse/neglect of children by the public: implications for policy and practice

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Firstly, a systematic review was undertaken to understand the nature of international literature on the definitions of psychological abuse and neglect of children (PA) by the public. The research protocol was developed and then two major databases (PsycINFO and Pubmed) were searched. The identified studies were imported to EPPI Reviewer web and screened and coded. The identified studies illustrated the high threshold for both abstract definitions and operational definitions of PEA compared to other forms of child maltreatment by the public.Second, a vignette-based online survey was undertaken to understand how the public in Japan understand the meaning of PEA. Prior to the study, Ethics approval was obtained from the Research Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Tokyo. The survey was developed by PI and a total number of 300 data points were collected. For abstract definitions, the respondents were most likely to assign “maybe abuse” (36%), and this was followed “probably abuse” (25%) and “definitely abuse” (23%). For operational definitions, the most common answer was “do nothing” (35%) and the least common answer was “reporting” (14%). The data will be further investigated.Third, preparation of a pilot study which aims to test the feasibility of the definitional framework in enhancing the conceptualization of PA by the public was carried out. A leaflet to explain a definitional conceptual framework was developed and an Ethics approval form was drafted.