The Path to Effective Child Maltreatment Prevention Strategies

The burden of child maltreatment in the U.S. remains a substantial problem with life-course implications, yet systematic efforts to prevent its occurrence and the associated impairments have been limited. The review of universal and targeted child maltreatment prevention interventions to address child physical abuse by Nelson and Caplan provide a thoughtful critique of the child maltreatment prevention efforts and a recognition of the importance of developing a public health framework to address this problem. An overriding prevention strategy should be derived from a systems level approach, which embraces the socio-ecological, and public health frameworks (with integration of policy and practice). The policy implications of these interventions is important to grasp, with opportunities to foster policies supportive of a public health approach to child maltreatment prevention