Youth engagement in research, which involves meaningfully collaborating with youth as full partners in the research process, has contributed to improved research collaborations, enhanced youth participation, and increased motivation for researchers to address scientific questions relevant to youth. Engaging youth as partners in the research process is especially needed in the field of child maltreatment due to the high prevalence of maltreatment, its poor association with health outcomes, and the disempowerment that can occur following exposure to child maltreatment. Although evidence-based approaches for youth engagement in research have been established and applied in other areas such as mental health services, youth engagement in child maltreatment research has been limited. This is particularly disadvantageous to youth exposed to maltreatment as their voices remain absent from research priorities, which contributes to a discrepancy between the research topics that are relevant to youth and those that are pursued by the research community. Using a narrative review approach, we provide an overview of the potential for youth engagement within the field of child maltreatment research, identify barriers to youth engagement, provide trauma-informed strategies for engaging youth in the context of research, and review existing trauma-informed models for youth engagement. This discussion paper suggests that youth engagement in research can contribute to improvements in the design and delivery of mental health care services for youth exposed to traumatic experiences and should be prioritized in future research endeavors. Moreover, it is essential for youth who have historically experienced systemic violence to be engaged and have a voice in research that has the potential to impact policy and practice.

青年参与研究，包括在研究过程中与青年作为全面合作伙伴进行有意义的合作，这有助于改善研究合作，加强青年参与，并增加研究人员解决与青年相关的科学问题的动力。由于虐待的发生率很高、虐待与健康结果的关联性差以及遭受儿童虐待后可能发生的权利丧失，因此在虐待儿童领域尤其需要让青年作为合作伙伴参与研究过程。尽管基于证据的青年参与研究方法已经建立并应用于其他领域，例如心理健康服务，但青年参与虐待儿童研究的程度有限。这对遭受虐待的青年尤其不利，因为他们的声音仍然没有出现在研究重点中，这导致与青年相关的研究主题与研究界追求的主题之间存在差异。使用叙述性回顾方法，我们概述了青年参与儿童虐待研究领域的潜力，确定了青年参与的障碍，提供了让青年参与研究的创伤知情策略，并审查了现有的创伤知情策略青年参与模式。这份讨论文件表明，青年参与研究有助于改进为遭受创伤经历的青年设计和提供精神卫生保健服务，应在未来的研究工作中优先考虑。