Establishment of a book series "Protection Concepts and Protection Processes - Research and Debates on Safeguarding"

Institutional protection concepts, child protection, child abuse, stocktaking

01.03.2024 - 30.06.2025

The prevalence of boundary violations, sexual assaults and psychological and physical violence against children and young people in institutions has remained high for years. It is the responsibility of the organisations and facility managers of facilities where children and young people are present to develop and implement concepts for their protection. The topic of protective measures or protection concepts/processes is an increasingly important area of prevention and intervention research. However, there is currently no suitable international or interdisciplinary format that could inform academics and professionals alike.

In a previous project "Development of a matrix of needs and target groups for an interdisciplinary safeguarding format", a systematic literature review was carried out to determine the current state of the scientific literature with regard to institutional protection measures and protection concepts/processes, as well as the resulting gaps in the evidence base. This enabled us to gain a multifaceted understanding of the topic and its coverage in research contexts and specialist journals.

Building on this, a book series "Protection Concepts and Protection Processes - Research and Debates on Safeguarding" is now being established by Springer-Verlag, with the aim of stimulating an interdisciplinary exchange of knowledge and establishing a common language in the field of institutional protection concepts and protection processes. The first volume is to be published under the title "Attitudes and Processes" and will, among other things, report on and discuss the results of the literature research of the previous project in detail. In addition, different scientific perspectives on the development of protection concepts will be examined and, in a more practice- and action-oriented section, individual international projects will be presented by the respective implementers, such as the conceptualisation and implementation of child protection measures in schools in Zimbabwe or possibilities for the participation of those affected in the area of institutional protection concepts/processes.

The project is being realised with funding from a foundation.