1. Background
Childmaltreatment is a public health problemand a violation
of children’s human rights [1].The latest research in Finland
[2, 3] shows that children and youth experience a wide range
of maltreatment at home-meaning physical, emotional, and
sexual violence, neglect, and witnessing violence between
parents. The same forms of child maltreatment are observed
in other countries in Europe and globally [4–8]. In addition,
research attention has been paid to children living in families
where intimate partner violence is part of their everyday
life [2, 9]. Although much has been done for discovering
the situation of children living in violent homes, effort
is still needed for knowing more about identification and
prevention practices, for developing them.
Researchers in the child maltreatment field show that
child maltreatment within the family has an enormous effect
on children and their future physical, emotional, and social
welfare, often resulting in inequality and marginalization [10,
11]. A meta-analysis on the health consequences [12] stressed
that all forms of child maltreatment should be considered
important risks to health. Lifelong impairments in learning,
behaviour, and both physical and mental health are strongly
linked to adverse experiences in childhood. Exposure to
child maltreatment can disrupt normal biological and social
development, creating a cascade of events that lead to toxic
stress which results in changes in the developing nervous,
cardiovascular, immune, and metabolic systems which last
a lifetime [13]. Awareness of the serious long-term consequences
should encourage better identification of those
at risk and the development of effective interventions to
protect children from violence [1, 14].