Wolfson Centre Researcher involved in new WHO guidelines to prevent children maltreatment
20 April 2023
Wolfson Centre for Young People’s Mental Health researcher, Dr Yulia Shenderovich, has been involved in conducting a series of literature reviews to inform World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.
Violence against children is a major health problem, and exposure to violence increases the risk of mental health problems in children and young people. Most violence against children occurs in the family, by parents and caregivers, for instance in the context of punishment.
Conversely, positive parent-child relationships can promote good health and development. A range of parenting programmes have been designed to promote positive parent-child relationships and reduce the risk of violence in the family.
A new World Health Organization (WHO) guideline provides evidence-informed recommendations on parenting interventions for parents and caregivers of children aged 0-17 years.
The guideline is focused on interventions that are designed to prevent and reduce violence against children, decrease child and adult mental health problems, and enhance the parent-child relationships.
Wolfson Centre for Young People’s Mental Health researcher, Dr Yulia Shenderovich, has been involved in conducting a series of literature reviews to inform this WHO guidelines.
“A key part of any health guideline preparation is to consider the evidence on the effects of the health intervention – in this case, parenting programmes. However, it is increasingly recognised that there are other important factors besides the overall programme effects that also need to be considered. These include the feasibility of the programme, its human rights and sociocultural acceptability, as well as health equity, and societal and financial implications.”
Dr Yulia worked as a co-investigator on the project component that focused on these factors, drawing on the WHO-INTEGRATE framework.
Here is what it means:
- This is the first WHO guideline on parenting support interventions designed to reduce child maltreatment, improve mental health, and enhance parent-child relationships.
- Published in February 2023, and launched in April, it is also one of the first examples of a WHO guideline that provides a systematic and in-depth examination of a range of factors related to implementation of a health programme, such as feasibility and human rights.
To read more, you access the full paper here: Gardner F, Shenderovich Y, McCoy A, Schafer M, Martin M, Janowski R et al. Parenting interventions to prevent child maltreatment and enhance parent-child relationships with children aged 0-17 years. Report of the reviews for the WHO–INTEGRATE framework.
