Consequences of family violence to the health of children and adolescents: contributions to action proposals

摘要

In Brazil, the magnitude of family violence is not yet fully known. Nevertheless, there is some evidence supporting that the issue should be immediately addressed. The article underlines the need for research, explicitly attempting to bridge the gap between generated knowledge and effective proposals for action. The article is divided in five parts. It opens with an overview concerning the importance of the problem of violence among children and adolescents. The following section presents a typology regarding main research lines on family violence. In the third section, one of those research lines is further detailed, especifically covering investigations dealing with the consequences of family violence. The conection between some of the findings and their use as subsidiaries for actual action proposals is addressed in the fourth section. The last section provides some comments about the importance of focusing violence at the family level as opposed to the individual level; the importance of handling the problem on a multi-professional basis; and the need to integrate agencies and services involved with family violence.