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Interaction Competencies with Children (ICC): An Approach for Preventing Violence, Abuse, and Neglect in Institutional Care in Sub-Saharan Africa

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Child Maltreatment in Residential Care

Abstract

In Sub-Saharan Africa, poverty and the HIV/AIDS pandemic have led to constantly rising numbers of orphans over the last decades. In many African countries, childcare institutions constitute the most frequently utilized form of providing formal care for children without parents. In addition to parental loss and possible maltreatment in the family of origin, orphans are burdened with further experiences of maltreatment in childcare institutions, which may have detrimental consequences for mental health and development. Additionally, the often unresponsive and distant caregiving in institutional care may result in neglect. Thus, prevention of abuse and neglect is highly important in institutional care settings. With Interaction Competencies with Children – for Caregivers (ICC-C), we present a preventative intervention approach that aims to improve care quality and to prevent maltreatment in institutional care, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. ICC-C proved its feasibility and showed first promising results in a study with caregivers in Tanzanian orphanages. As maltreatment occurs in all alternative care settings, we emphasize that improving care quality may be more important than the type of care. Although basic nutrition, sanitation, and medical care are essential, interactions with responsive nonviolent caregivers are crucial to the children’s physical and behavioral development. Therefore, we advocate for focusing on the prevention of maltreatment and violence in institutional care and other care settings in Sub-Saharan Africa.

“Our children are our future and one of the basic responsibilities is to care for them in the best and most compassionate manner possible”.

Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund (2016).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany

    Tobias Hecker

  2. vivo international, www.vivo.org, Allensbach, Germany

    Tobias Hecker & Katharin Hermenau

  3. Department of Educational Psychology, University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

    Getrude Mkinga

  4. Department of Educational Foundations and Psychology, Mbarara University for Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda

    Joseph Ssenyonga

  5. Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany

    Joseph Ssenyonga & Katharin Hermenau

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  1. Tobias Hecker
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  2. Getrude Mkinga
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  3. Joseph Ssenyonga
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  4. Katharin Hermenau
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Correspondence to Tobias Hecker .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social and Behavioral Science, Southwestern Christian University, Bethany, Oklahoma, USA

    Adrian V. Rus

  2. Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas, USA

    Sheri R. Parris

  3. Social Pediatrics and Obstetrics Research Department, National Institute for Mother and Child Health “Alessandrescu-Rusescu”, Bucuresti, Romania

    Ecaterina Stativa

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Hecker, T., Mkinga, G., Ssenyonga, J., Hermenau, K. (2017). Interaction Competencies with Children (ICC): An Approach for Preventing Violence, Abuse, and Neglect in Institutional Care in Sub-Saharan Africa. In: Rus, A., Parris, S., Stativa, E. (eds) Child Maltreatment in Residential Care. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57990-0_17

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