[Skip to Content]

Claim CME

Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Child Maltreatment Prevention in the Era of Coronavirus Disease 2019

Educational Objective
To understand how existing inequalities within the US health care system is affecting children during the COVID-19 pandemic

1 Credit CME

JAMA Pediatrics

Published Online: August 3, 2020

Editorial

Article Information and Disclosures

Christopher Spencer Greeley, MD, MS¹

Author Affiliations

¹Section of Public Health and Child Abuse, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas

Read article on JAMA Network

Read Article Claim CME

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has exposed the frailty of the just-in-time medical system currently in place in the United States. Large gaps in access to care, unequal distribution of testing, and disparities in mortality rates in many ways reflect the greater inequalities that many communities and families were confronting daily before COVID-19. These inequities now may mean life or death. COVID-19 is not the great equalizer it is often referenced to be. It does not affect all communities, all families, or all children equally. Some neighborhoods are ravaged by food insecurity, loss of hourly wage jobs, and threats of evictions, while for others, COVID-19 is disrupting and troubling but not a true existential threat.

Claim CME

Sign in to take quiz and track your certificates

Buy This Activity

Article Information

Corresponding Author: Christopher Spencer Greeley, MD, MS, Section of Public Health and Child Abuse, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, 6621 Fannin St, MC A2275, Houston, TX 77030 (greeley@bcm.edu).

Published Online: August 3, 2020. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2020.2776

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: None reported.

References

Marmot M . The health gap: the challenge of an unequal world, the argument. Int J Epidemiol. 2017;46(4):1312-1318. doi:10.1093/ije/dyx163 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Jonson-Reid M , Drake B , Cobetto C , Ocampo MG . Child abuse prevention month in the context of COVID-19. Published 2020. Accessed April 28, 2020. https://cicm.wustl.edu/child-abuse-prevention-month-in-the-context-of-covid-19/

Vaithianathan R , Putnam-Hornstein E , Chouldechova A , Benavides-Prado D , Berger R . Hospital injury encounters of children identified by a predictive risk model for screening child maltreatment referrals: evidence from the Allegheny Family Screening Tool. JAMA Pediatr. Published online August 3, 2020. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2020.2770 Google Scholar

O’Neil C . Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy. Broadway Books; 2016.

de Haan I , Connolly M . Another Pandora’s box? some pros and cons of predictive risk modeling. Child Youth Serv Rev. 2014;47:86-91. doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2014.07.016 Google Scholar Crossref

O’Neil C . The era of blind faith in big data must end. Published April 2017. Accessed June 26, 2020. https://www.ted.com/talks/cathy_o_neil_the_era_of_blind_faith_in_big_data_must_end

Lanier P , Rodriguez M , Verbiest S , Bryant K , Guan T , Zolotor A . Preventing infant maltreatment with predictive analytics: applying ethical principles to evidence-based child welfare policy. J Fam Violence. 2019;35(1):1-13. doi:10.1007/s10896-019-00074-y Google Scholar Crossref

Chasnoff IJ , Landress HJ , Barrett ME . The prevalence of illicit-drug or alcohol use during pregnancy and discrepancies in mandatory reporting in Pinellas County, Florida. N Engl J Med. 1990;322(17):1202-1206. doi:10.1056/NEJM199004263221706 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Lane WG , Rubin DM , Monteith R , Christian CW . Racial differences in the evaluation of pediatric fractures for physical abuse. JAMA. 2002;288(13):1603-1609. doi:10.1001/jama.288.13.1603 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Laskey AL , Stump TE , Perkins SM , Zimet GD , Sherman SJ , Downs SM . Influence of race and socioeconomic status on the diagnosis of child abuse: a randomized study. J Pediatr. 2012;160(6):1003-8.e1. doi:10.1016/j.jpeds.2011.11.042 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Wood JN , Hall M , Schilling S , Keren R , Mitra N , Rubin DM . Disparities in the evaluation and diagnosis of abuse among infants with traumatic brain injury. Pediatrics. 2010;126(3):408-414. doi:10.1542/peds.2010-0031 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Lanier P , Maguire-Jack K , Walsh T , Drake B , Hubel G . Race and ethnic differences in early childhood maltreatment in the United States. J Dev Behav Pediatr. 2014;35(7):419-426. doi:10.1097/DBP.0000000000000083 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Kim H , Drake B , Jonson-Reid M . An examination of class-based visibility bias in national child maltreatment reporting. Child Youth Serv Rev. 2018;85:165-173. doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2017.12.019 Google Scholar Crossref

Marco M , Maguire-Jack K , Gracia E , López-Quílez A . Disadvantaged neighborhoods and the spatial overlap of substantiated and unsubstantiated child maltreatment referrals. Child Abuse Negl. 2020;104:104477. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104477 PubMed Google Scholar

Drake B , Lee SM , Jonson-Reid M . Race and child maltreatment reporting: are blacks overrepresented? Child Youth Serv Rev. 2009;31(3):309-316. doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2008.08.004 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Drake B , Jolley JM , Lanier P , Fluke J , Barth RP , Jonson-Reid M . Racial bias in child protection? a comparison of competing explanations using national data. Pediatrics. 2011;127(3):471-478. doi:10.1542/peds.2010-1710 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Hussey JM , Marshall JM , English DJ , et al. Defining maltreatment according to substantiation: distinction without a difference? Child Abuse Negl. 2005;29(5):479-492. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2003.12.005 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Frieden TR . A framework for public health action: the health impact pyramid. Am J Public Health. 2010;100(4):590-595. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2009.185652 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Chetty R , Stepner M , Abraham S , et al. The association between income and life expectancy in the United States, 2001-2014. JAMA. 2016;315(16):1750-1766. doi:10.1001/jama.2016.4226 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Chetty R , Hendren N . The impacts of neighborhoods on intergenerational mobility I: childhood exposure effects. Q J Econ. 2018;133(3):1107-1162. doi:10.1093/qje/qjy007 Google Scholar Crossref

Institute of Medicine. An Integrated Framework for Assessing the Value of Community-Based Prevention. The National Academies Press; 2012.

Institute of Medicine. Challenges and Successes in Reducing Health Disparities: Workshop Summary. The National Academies Press; 2008.

Greeley CS . The future of child maltreatment prevention. Pediatrics. 2009;123(3):904-905. doi:10.1542/peds.2008-3291 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

AMA CME Accreditation Information

Credit Designation Statement: The American Medical Association designates this Journal-based CME activity activity for a maximum of 1.00  AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to:

1.00 Medical Knowledge MOC points in the American Board of Internal Medicine's (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program;;
1.00 Self-Assessment points in the American Board of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery’s (ABOHNS) Continuing Certification program;
1.00 MOC points in the American Board of Pediatrics’ (ABP) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program;
1.00 Lifelong Learning points in the American Board of Pathology’s (ABPath) Continuing Certification program; and
1.00 CME points in the American Board of Surgery’s (ABS) Continuing Certification program

It is the CME activity provider's responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting MOC credit.