COVID-19 significantly worsened already challenging circumstances for children and their families and globally increased the likelihood of child maltreatment. This risk heightened the urgency of child protection professionals in preventing child maltreatment and defending children's rights. The vast and growing body of research on protecting children from child maltreatment during COVID-19 has emphasized practitioners' tremendous difficulty in this arena. The current international study sought to identify the experiences and responses of child protection professionals to child maltreatment during COVID-19. Five real-time, virtual focus groups were conducted among professionals who work with children from countries around the globe. Reflexive thematic analysis was employed to analyze the focus group transcripts. The participants identified their experiences and challenges in performing their role of protecting children. Additionally, they shared context-adapted and innovative responses to child maltreatment, while emphasizing self-care and their mental health. The results highlighted that child protection was significantly more challenging during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, they underlined the importance of establishing practices and policies for child protection in crisis times as well as ensuring both children's and professionals' well-being and mental health.

中文翻译：

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COVID-19 期间儿童保护专业人员的经验和应对措施：全球专业人员的经验教训

COVID-19 使儿童及其家庭本已充满挑战的处境显着恶化，并增加了全球范围内虐待儿童的可能性。这种风险凸显了儿童保护专业人员防止虐待儿童和捍卫儿童权利的紧迫性。关于在 COVID-19 期间保护儿童免受儿童虐待的大量且不断增长的研究强调了从业者在这一领域面临的巨大困难。当前的国际研究旨在了解儿童保护专业人员在新冠肺炎 (COVID-19) 期间遭受虐待的经历和应对措施。来自世界各国从事儿童工作的专业人士进行了五个实时虚拟焦点小组讨论。采用反思性主题分析来分析焦点小组记录。参与者指出了他们在履行保护儿童职责方面的经验和挑战。此外，他们分享了针对虐待儿童的适应环境和创新的应对措施，同时强调自我保健和心理健康。结果突显出，在 COVID-19 大流行期间，儿童保护面临着更大的挑战。此外，他们强调了在危机时期制定儿童保护做法和政策以及确保儿童和专业人员的福祉和心理健康的重要性。