TY - JOUR
T1 - Professionals’ Digital Training for Child Maltreatment Prevention in the COVID-19 Era
T2 - A Pan-European Model
AU - Crocamo, Cristina
AU - Bachi, Bianca
AU - Cioni, Riccardo M.
AU - Schecke, Henrike
AU - Nieminen, Irja
AU - Zabłocka-Żytka, Lidia
AU - Woźniak-Prus, Małgorzata
AU - Bartoli, Francesco
AU - Riboldi, Ilaria
AU - Appleton, Jane V.
AU - Bekaert, Sarah
AU - Zlatkute, Giedre
AU - Jouet, Emmanuelle
AU - Viganò, Giovanni
AU - Specka, Michael
AU - Scherbaum, Norbert
AU - Paavilainen, Eija
AU - Baldacchino, Alexander
AU - Carrà, Giuseppe
N1 - Funding Information:
Focusing on the specific perspectives of both training participants (trainees) and organizers (trainers), we have purposely designed and piloted during the COVID-19 pandemic an innovative e-learning training for professionals working with children and families, involving seven partners from different European countries—England, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Scotland. The training is part of the pan-European research project—ERICA (Stopping Child Maltreatment through Pan-European Multiprofessional Training Programme: Early Child Protection Work with Families at Risk), funded by the European Commission Rights, Equality and Citizenship programme. The ERICA project aimed to prevent and tackle child maltreatment through the improvement of the expertise of professionals, by building training that also provided an opportunity for multidisciplinary professionals to converge their knowledge of child maltreatment and their skills to identify minors living in families with at-risk conditions [20]. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to describe the experience of the ERICA project on child maltreatment with a particular focus on its digital approach. Due to the unusual circumstances of the pandemic, an e-learning version of the ERICA learning program on child maltreatment was necessary. We hypothesized that, under these specific circumstances, this adaptation may represent a key element in the process of delivering and also promoting the novelty value of the ERICA training. Therefore, trainers’ subjective perspectives on specific advantages and disadvantages of the ERICA digital approach on child maltreatment prevention training were explored. This is crucial, especially given the persistence of the pandemic, to promote relevant good practices across Europe.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2022/1
Y1 - 2022/1
N2 - The responsiveness of professionals working with children and families is of key im-portance for child maltreatment early identification. However, this might be undermined when multifaceted circumstances, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, reduce interdisciplinary educational ac-tivities. Thanks to technological developments, digital platforms seem promising in dealing with new challenges for professionals’ training. We examined a digital approach to child maltreatment training through the ERICA project experience (Stopping Child Maltreatment through Pan-European Multi-professional Training Programme). ERICA has been piloted during the pandemic in seven European centers involving interconnected sectors of professionals working with children and families. The training consisted of interactive modules embedded in a digital learning framework. Different aspects (technology, interaction, and organization) were evaluated and trainers’ feedback on digital features was sought. Technical issues were the main barrier, however, these did not significantly disrupt the training. The trainers perceived reduced interaction between participants, although distinct factors were uncovered as potential favorable mediators. Based on participants’ subjective experiences and perspectives, digital learning frameworks for professionals working with children and families (such as the ERICA model nested in its indispensable adaptation to an e-learning mode) can represent a novel interactive approach to empower trainers and trainees to tackle child maltreatment during critical times such as a pandemic, and as an alternative to more traditional learning frameworks.
AB - The responsiveness of professionals working with children and families is of key im-portance for child maltreatment early identification. However, this might be undermined when multifaceted circumstances, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, reduce interdisciplinary educational ac-tivities. Thanks to technological developments, digital platforms seem promising in dealing with new challenges for professionals’ training. We examined a digital approach to child maltreatment training through the ERICA project experience (Stopping Child Maltreatment through Pan-European Multi-professional Training Programme). ERICA has been piloted during the pandemic in seven European centers involving interconnected sectors of professionals working with children and families. The training consisted of interactive modules embedded in a digital learning framework. Different aspects (technology, interaction, and organization) were evaluated and trainers’ feedback on digital features was sought. Technical issues were the main barrier, however, these did not significantly disrupt the training. The trainers perceived reduced interaction between participants, although distinct factors were uncovered as potential favorable mediators. Based on participants’ subjective experiences and perspectives, digital learning frameworks for professionals working with children and families (such as the ERICA model nested in its indispensable adaptation to an e-learning mode) can represent a novel interactive approach to empower trainers and trainees to tackle child maltreatment during critical times such as a pandemic, and as an alternative to more traditional learning frameworks.
KW - Child maltreatment
KW - Digital health
KW - E-learning
KW - Multidisciplinary
KW - Professionals
U2 - 10.3390/ijerph19020885
DO - 10.3390/ijerph19020885
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85122885146
SN - 1661-7827
VL - 19
JO - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
IS - 2
M1 - 885
ER -
