Interventions in High-Conflict Divorces⁄Separations from Children’s Perspective: A Scoping Review

A high-conflict divorce/separation often involves a situation where the separating parents continue their disputative relationship. There are a variety of interventions that aim to resolve these divorces/separations and help the parents and children. The purpose of this scoping review was to find out how children are considered in the interventions. The research question is, How are children involved in interventions in high-conflict divorces/separations? The review was conducted by using two online databases: SCOPUS and the Wiley Online Library, which were accessed in September 2023. A total of 66 research articles met the predefined inclusion criteria. According to this review, interventions used in high-conflict divorces/separations can be classified as parenting coordination, mediation, court-related interventions, therapeutic and psychosocial interventions for the parents and/or children, and interventions used to reunite children with their parents. The results show that children are involved in the interventions in three different ways: (1) Children are theoretically involved in the intervention, (2) children are beneficiaries of the intervention targeted at the parents, and (3) children are subjects in the intervention. Depending on the intervention, group of interventions emphasize one or more aspects of considering the child. The review concludes with suggestions for future research and implications for practice.