Geographical variation exists in violence experienced by children and young people; however, there is limited research applying geospatial techniques to study this variation, and the methodological quality of this body of work is unclear. This study aimed to review the application of geospatial analysis in research on violence against children (VAC) and evaluate how essential methodological aspects are reported. Twelve databases were searched for studies on VAC using geospatial techniques. Two independent reviewers screened the papers for eligibility. Findings were narratively synthesised. Sixty studies were included. Six studies estimated the prevalence of VAC and 54 investigated the associations between VAC and covariates. Most studies were conducted in the US (68 %), and the broad definition of ‘child maltreatment’ (53 %) was the most common form of violence explored. Most studies (83 %) used administrative data, whereas 23 % used an ecological study design to estimate the associations between risk factors and official reports of VAC. Frequentist modelling approaches were used in 54 % of the studies, and 47 % investigated VAC at census tract level. Model fit metrics were reported in 69 % of studies. Current knowledge of the geographical distribution of VAC is severely limited because of the reliance on administrative data, which vastly underestimates the prevalence of VAC compared with self-reports and poor reporting of quality characteristics. There is a huge opportunity for applying geospatial methods in VAC research in diverse geographic contexts. Future research must adopt rigorous and standardised approaches to model fitting and validation and make better use of self-reported data.

中文翻译：

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地理空间分析在健康研究中的应用：对暴力侵害儿童和青少年研究方法学方面的系统回顾

儿童和青少年遭受的暴力存在地域差异；然而，应用地理空间技术来研究这种变化的研究有限，而且这项工作的方法论质量尚不清楚。本研究旨在回顾地理空间分析在针对儿童的暴力行为 (VAC) 研究中的应用，并评估如何报告基本方法方面的内容。使用地理空间技术检索了 12 个数据库以查找 VAC 研究。两名独立审稿人筛选了论文的资格。对调查结果进行了叙述性综合。包括六十项研究。六项研究估计了 VAC 的患病率，54 项研究调查了 VAC 与协变量之间的关联。大多数研究是在美国进行的（68%），“虐待儿童”的广义定义（53%）是所探讨的最常见的暴力形式。大多数研究 (83%) 使用行政数据，而 23% 使用生态研究设计来估计风险因素与 VAC 官方报告之间的关联。 54% 的研究使用了频率模型方法，47% 的研究在人口普查区层面调查了 VAC。 69% 的研究报告了模型拟合指标。由于对行政数据的依赖，目前对 VAC 地理分布的了解受到严重限制，与自我报告和不良质量特征报告相比，这大大低估了 VAC 的患病率。在不同地理环境下的 VAC 研究中应用地理空间方法有巨大的机会。未来的研究必须采用严格和标准化的方法来进行模型拟合和验证，并更好地利用自我报告的数据。