1. Two Roads, One Destination: Community and Organizational Mechanisms for Contextualizing Child Abuse Prevention in Australia and the UK
- Author
-
S. Rayment-McHugh and Carlene Emma Firmin
- Subjects
Child abuse ,geography ,Operationalization ,geography.geographical_feature_category ,business.industry ,050901 criminology ,05 social sciences ,Space (commercial competition) ,Public relations ,Urban area ,Indigenous ,Child protection ,Sexual abuse ,Legal guardian ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,Sociology ,0509 other social sciences ,business ,050104 developmental & child psychology - Abstract
Calls for a contextual approach to abuse prevention highlight a need to better understand how contextual frameworks may be operationalized. Using a dual-case study design, this research compares two contrasting pilot projects underpinned by contextual theories of abuse prevention. One was implemented in a small remote Indigenous community in Australia and aimed to reduce the extent of youth-perpetrated sexual abuse. The other occurred in a densely populated urban area in London (UK) and involved the co-creation and testing of a contextual child protection response to peer-to-peer abuse. Despite their divergent approaches to developing contextual practice, a comparison of the two projects identified shared features of implementation. Both involved context-specific community buy-in and ownership of a response to peer-to-peer abuse; solutions that were co-created between professionals and communities; and the enhancement of community guardianship, pro-social use of space, and changes to the physical design of areas to increase safety. Consequentially, both projects demanded a radical transformation in the way health and social care professionals viewed the target of their interventions—the what—and the approach to achieving change—the how. Comparing these two case studies provides a unique opportunity to extend knowledge on the practical application of contextual theoretical approaches to abuse prevention.
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF