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Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting

Date Submitted: Mar 6, 2025
Date Accepted: Jun 16, 2025

The final, peer-reviewed published version of this preprint can be found here:

Leveraging AI to Investigate Child Maltreatment Text Narratives: Promising Benefits and Addressable Risks

Lukmanjaya W, Butler T, Cox S, Perez-Concha O, Bromfield L, Karystianis G

Leveraging AI to Investigate Child Maltreatment Text Narratives: Promising Benefits and Addressable Risks

JMIR Pediatr Parent 2025;8:e73579

DOI: 10.2196/73579

PMID: 40705434

PMCID: 12288702

Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.

Leveraging AI to Investigate Child Maltreatment Text Narratives: Promising Benefits and Addressable Risks

  • Wilson Lukmanjaya; 
  • Tony Butler; 
  • Sarah Cox; 
  • Oscar Perez-Concha; 
  • Leah Bromfield; 
  • George Karystianis

ABSTRACT

The use of child maltreatment text narratives represents an opportunity to strengthen the evidence base for child policy reform, yet they remain underutilized. Current research into child maltreatment often involves the use of structured data, potentially overlooking key details within the narratives that can be crucial to assist in developing effective interventions. Artificial Intelligence approaches such as large language models can assist in the large-scale analysis of child maltreatment narratives extracting useful population-level insights on indicators of mental health, and treatment needs. However, when applying such methods, a framework of five key steps can assist in their careful implementation to reduce risks of privacy and bias.


 Citation

Please cite as:

Lukmanjaya W, Butler T, Cox S, Perez-Concha O, Bromfield L, Karystianis G

Leveraging AI to Investigate Child Maltreatment Text Narratives: Promising Benefits and Addressable Risks

JMIR Pediatr Parent 2025;8:e73579

DOI: 10.2196/73579

PMID: 40705434

PMCID: 12288702

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