Gisela Priebe, professor of psychology and director of the The Centre for Research on the Mental Health and Life Circumstances of Children and Youth (CBU), is one of the speakers at "Barnrättsdagarna" (the Children's Rights Days) held from 31 March to 2 April in Karlstad. This year's theme, "The Child as a Rights Holder and the Best Interests of the Child," is a constantly relevant topic for Gisela and CBU's research.
Hello Gisela! What is your presentation about?
“Our presentation, 'Young Children's Right to Treatment After Exposure to Violence and Abuse', provides an overview of the current knowledge on interventions for young children exposed to violence and abuse. I will present a systematic review of research focusing on sexual abuse, published last year by the Swedish Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Assessment of Social Services (SBU), where I was an expert. My colleague Kjerstin Almqvist will report on experiences from Swedish studies on, among other things, Child-Parent Psychotherapy, and Katrin Bernstad from Region Skåne will contribute clinical experiences from treatment work within child and adolescent psychiatry with younger children exposed to sexual violence. It is gratifying that we have managed to combine both research and practice in the same presentation. The presentation will be recorded and published later on the Children's Rights Days' social media and website."
The conference gather more than 1,000 professionals, decision-makers, authorities, and researchers from all over Sweden and is an important meeting place for everyone who wants to deepen their knowledge of children's rights and help implement the Convention on the Rights of the Child. We usually present at the conference, but this year we are also participating with an exhibition booth together with the subject public health science at Karlstad University – a great opportunity to increase visibility and make new connections.”
What do you hope your presentation and research will contribute to?
"We hope that more young children who have been exposed to violence and abuse will gain access to treatment. The treatment needs to be adapted to the children's developmental level and needs and often takes place together with a caregiver. It requires specialised knowledge from the therapist. In many cases, there is a lack of expertise and resources, and they settle for only offering treatment to older children and adolescents or strengthening the caregiver's parenting ability. If treatment is rarely offered to young children, it also becomes difficult to conduct research studies to evaluate it. But even young children have the right to quality treatment, and we want to help ensure that!""
What advice would you give to those working with the mental health and developmental conditions of children and adolescents?
"Children and adolescents need protection and support, but they also need opportunities to participate in matters that are important to them. It is about finding a balance so that the children and adolescents are given neither too little nor too much responsibility. There is an ongoing transition in Sweden to adapt legislation and practice to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which became Swedish law in 2020. It is important not to see children and adolescents only as isolated individuals but as participants in various contexts – family, relatives, friends, school, work, society, the world. Many children and adolescents worry about the future and want to contribute to a sustainable future for all, which adults need to take seriously."
