Here is a round-up of some of the latest ACEs research and data from across the world. Updated May 2019.
Asking about Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in Health Visiting
Key findings from the evaluation of an initial pilot of ACE enquiry delivered with mothers during early engagement with health visiting services across Anglesey, North Wales. The pilot took place between October 2017 and July 2018 and engaged 321 mothers in a supportive, ACE-informed discussion about childhood adversity and its impacts on health, wellbeing and parenting. Using qualitative and quantitative data, this report considers the feasibility and acceptability of ACE enquiry in health visiting from both the service user and the practitioner perspective.
Asking About Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in General Practice
This report summarises key findings from the evaluation of a local pilot initiative delivering ACE enquiry with adult general practice patients. In this multi-site pilot implemented across three GP practices in Anglesey, North Wales from November 2017 to April 2018, 565 patients were asked about their ACEs.
http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sitesplus/documents/888/Asking%20about%20ACEs%20in%20General%20Practice.pdf
An Evidence Review Of Interventions To Prevent And Address Adversity Across The Life Course
Public Health Wales’ Policy, Research and International Development directorate in conjunction with the Public Health Collaborating Unit at Bangor University, has produced a new report ‘Responding to Adverse Childhood Experiences’. The review examines evidence across a variety of programmes responding to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). The report looked at programmes and interventions for 11 individual ACE types, and ACEs as a collective term, to identify common approaches across programmes.
http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sitesplus/documents/888/RespondingToACEs_PHW2019_english%20%28002%29.pdf
A Critique of the Adverse Childhood Experiences Framework in Epidemiology and Public Health: Uses and Misuses
As the ACEs concept becomes popular in the context of policy interventions, concerns have emerged. As a probabilistic and population-level tool, it is not adapted to diagnose individual-level vulnerabilities, an approach which could ultimately exacerbate inequalities. Michelle Kelly-Irving and Cyrille Delpierre from University of Toulouse present a critique of the ACEs framework, discussing its strengths and limits.
Understanding The Use, And Misuse, of ACEs In Trauma – Informed Policing
An increased awareness about how trauma impacts upon children and adults is vital for the identification of vulnerability, development of trauma-informed policing and strengthening the case for prevention. This article, published in The Police Journal by Karen Bateson, Michelle McManus and Georgia Johnson reviews the current evidence with a focus on the strengths, current issues and risks in the use of ACEs across policing.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0032258X19841409?journalCode=pjxa
Adverse Childhood Experiences In The Children Of The Avon Longitudinal Study Of Parents And Children (ALSPAC)
Exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) is a risk factor for poor later life health. This report describes the ACE variables measured in the children of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) study, and a method used to derive summary measures and deal with missing data in them.
https://wellcomeopenresearch.org/articles/3-106/v1
Adult Psychosocial Outcomes Of Men And Women Who Were Looked-After Or Adopted As Children: Prospective Observational Study
To investigate whether men and women who were looked-after (in public care) or adopted as children are at increased risk of adverse psychological and social outcomes in adulthood.
https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/bmjopen/8/2/e019095.full.pdf
Prevalence Of Adverse Childhood Experiences (Aces) Among US Children
The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) among children in the United States and to examine the relationship between child and family characteristics and the likelihood of reported exposure to ACEs. Data was drawn from the nationally representative 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH). Parent-reported child ACE exposure was measured using counts of those reporting zero ACEs, one to three ACEs, and four or more ACEs.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31003066
The Evidence Base For Routine Enquiry Into Adverse Childhood Experiences: A Scoping Review
Published in the Journal of Child Abuse and Neglect, this paper explores the evidence base for retrospective routine enquiry in adults for ACEs, including feasibility and acceptability amongst practitioners, service user acceptability and outcomes from implementation.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014521341930095X
Factors Associated With Adverse Childhood Experiences In Scottish Children: A Prospective Cohort Study
This paper sets out to determine the prevalence of ACEs at age 8 in a recent prospective birth cohort and examine associations between risk factors in the first year and cumulative ACEs. It uses the Growing Up in Scotland Birth Cohort 1, in which children born in Scotland in 2004/5 were identified using Child Benefit Records and followed up for 7 years (n.3119).
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30815585
Associations between Childhood Deaths and Adverse Childhood Experiences: An Audit of Data From A Child Death Overview Panel
This study explored if data routinely collected by child death overview panels (CDOPs) could be used to measure ACE exposure and examined associations between ACEs and child death categories. Data covering four years (2012-2016) of cases from a CDOP in North West England were examined. Published in the Journal of Child Abuse & Neglect.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0145213419300407
Adverse Childhood Experiences, Childhood Relationships and Associated Substance Use and Mental Health In Young Europeans
Published in the European Journal of Public Health, this study used combined data from cross-sectional ACE studies among young adults in educational institutions in 10 European countries.
https://academic.oup.com/eurpub/advancearticle/doi/10.1093/eurpub/ckz037/5416187?searchresult=1
Measuring the Relationships Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Educational And Employment Success in England And Wales: Findings From A Retrospective Study
This study examines the association between ACEs and poor educational outcomes, before considering the impact of ACEs and education on employment in adulthood. Retrospective cross-sectional surveys were conducted in England and Wales using a random stratified sampling methodology. Published in Public Health Journal.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0033350618303032
Adverse Childhood Experiences and Mental and Behavioural Health Conditions During Pregnancy: The Role of Resilience
Published in the Journal of Women’s Health, this study examined associations between exposure to ACEs and mental and behavioural health during pregnancy overall and among women with high versus low levels of resilience.
Recent Comments