Table 3.

The third‐order constructs for the individual level of the ecological model: Personal factors shaping children's readiness to engage. Source material from all papers and high quality papers

Respondent	Third‐order constructs	All papers	High‐“quality” papers
Initiation of engagement
Children	Self‐motivation, recognition of own needs	Cater (2014)	Cater (2014)
Understanding and acknowledgement of DVA
Children might not understand that DVA is the root cause of their involvement with an intervention
Children	Adjustment to the “new reality” in their lives	Peled (1998)	Peled (1998)
Children	Acknowledging DVA had been a part of their lives	Peled (1998) Jarman (2014)	Peled (1998)
Children	DVA, and engagement with a DVA‐focused intervention, may be of marginal concern to children who may be engaged with other normal developmental milestones or other immediate family traumas	Peled (1998) Thompson (2011)	Peled (1998) Thompson (2011)
Children	Learning the violence vocabulary	Paris (1999) Peled and Edleson (1992)	Paris (1999) Peled and Edleson (1992)
Children	Defining or labelling abuse	Peled and Edleson (1992) Paris (1999) Peled (1998)	Peled and Edleson (1992) Paris (1999) Peled (1998)
Children	Attribution of responsibility for DVA	Peled (1998) Peled and Edleson (1992) Jarman (2014)	Peled (1998) Peled and Edleson (1992)
Children	Recognising equality of gender roles	Jarman (2014)
Recognising the effect of DVA on mothers and other children and having empathy
Children	Empathy for mother's situation	Peled (1998)	Peled (1998)
Children	Recognising their mother's strength	Jarman (2014)
Children	Development of empathy	Thompson (2011)	Thompson (2011)
Breaking the secret
Children	Helping mothers and other children [altruism as motivation for joining in]	Humphreys et al. (2011)	Humphreys et al. (2011)
Breaking the secret was difficult for children/children did not want to talk about the past or their fathers. Children felt their situation to be shameful/the presence of nonabusive parent (mother) helped children with the activities
Children	Not wanting to talk about the past/violence Not wanting to talk about their fathers	Humphreys et al. (2011) Peled (1998) Jarman (2013) Cater (2014)	Humphreys et al. (2011) Peled (1998) Cater (2014)
Children	Hesitancy to share what has happened	Thompson (2009) Paris (1999)	Thompson (2009) Paris (1999)
Children	Readiness to talk	Paris (1999) Peled and Edleson (1992) Thompson (2011) Thompson (2009)	Paris (1999) Peled and Edleson (1992) Thompson (2011) Thompson (2009)
Children	“I am not alone”: Beneficial; release of stress particularly beneficial to children who have not spoken of it before Reducing shame and guilt	Peled and Edleson (1992) Thompson (2011) Ermentrout et al. (2014)	Peled and Edleson (1992) Thompson (2011) Ermentrout et al. (2014)
Children	Child perception of benefits	Humphreys et al. (2011) Paris (1999) Jarman (2014)	Humphreys et al. (2011) Paris (1999) Jarman (2014)
Children	Building trust between practitioner and child, helps break the secret	Cater (2014)	Cater (2014)
Children	Therapeutic relationship can assist engagement	Cater (2014)	Cater (2014)
Children	Children must be motivated if intervention is to work	Cater (2014)	Cater (2014)
Readiness to “Break the secret”
Children	Differential readiness between parents and children as a barrier to uptake	Cater (2014)	Cater (2014)
Children	Mothers do not understand child needs, older children use own initiative to seek help	Cater (2014)	Cater (2014)
Children	Initiation driven by adult assumption of child needs	Cater (2014)	Cater (2014)
Children	Children's participation may be aided by involving them in decision to take up a programme	Cater (2014)	Cater (2014)
Children	Child must be motivated if participation is to work	Cater (2014)	Cater (2014)