Perceived Needs for Support Program for Family With Child Sexual Abuse Victim in South Korea: Focus Group Interview With Therapists and Mothers

This study assessed perceived needs for psychological support program for family with victim of child sexual abuse in South Korea. We conducted two separate focus group interviews with five therapists who served child sexual abuse victims and families as well as four mothers of a child sexual abuse victim. Consensual qualitative research analysis revealed four domains: Emotional support for parents, psychoeducation, family therapy, and tailored and flexible service delivery. Core ideas of the four domains were identified. The results were consistent with the family support program contents developed in Western countries and suggested culture-specific contents and culturally sensitive service delivery. Clinical implications for developing family support program in South Korea were discussed.     

Child Sexual Abuse,Sexual Anxiety,and Sexual Satisfaction: The Role of Self-Capacities

Research indicates that child sexual abuse produces lasting alterations in interpersonal relatedness, identity, and affect regulation, often referred to as self-capacity disturbance. Child sexual abuse also has been shown to negatively impact sexual functioning. This study examined the role of altered self-capacities in mediating the relationship between child sexual abuse and sexual responses. Path analysis revealed that child sexual abuse was related to sexual anxiety and decreased sexual satisfaction through its association with reduced self-awareness and a propensity to be involved in difficult interpersonal relationships.     

Educating Australia’s Jewish Communities about Child Sexual Abuse

It has been claimed that effective responses to child sexual abuse (CSA) must engage with the specific cultural, social, and religious contexts of the target communities. For Jewish communities in Australia, the program J-Safe was established to raise awareness, create cultural change, and empower the Jewish community to be able to prevent, recognize, and address child sexual assault within the school setting. This paper reports on the experiences of teachers in two Jewish-day schools who had participated in the J-Safe Project’s protective behaviors teacher training program. Participants’ accounts of the training indicate the Project builds teachers’ knowledge and supports teachers’ skill development in the areas of incidence, behavioral indicators and responding to disclosure suggest the training has relevance for the Jewish teaching context. However, the extent to which the training was successful at engaging with culturally specific norms within the Jewish community seems to have been limited, although it may be that the participants were not atypical from the wider group who participated in the J-Safe Project training.     

Mediators of Sexual Revictimization Risk in Adult Sexual Assault Victims

This study examined sexual risk behaviors and sexual refusal assertiveness in relationship to child sexual abuse, emotion dysregulation, and adult sexual revictimization. Path analyses of 1,094 survivors who had sex in the past year were done to examine sexual risk behavior and sexual refusal assertiveness mediational pathways by which child sexual abuse severity and emotion dysregulation may affect revictimization over one year in adult female sexual assault survivors. Exchanging sex for money and sexual refusal assertiveness were significantly associated with emotion dysregulation, whereas exchanging sex for money, and not sexual refusal assertiveness, was only significantly related to child sexual abuse severity. Both exchanging sex for money and sex refusal assertiveness mediated the relationship between emotion dysregulation and adult sexual revictimization. Exchanging sex for money mediated the child sexual abuse severity-revictimization relationship. These findings demonstrate the importance of considering both risky and protective sexual behaviors in research and prevention programming that address sexual revictimization in women.     

Disclosures of Sexual Abuse by Puerto Rican Children

Psychotherapists who have experience working with Puerto Ricans on issues of child sexual abuse, and Puerto Rican women who were abused sexually as children were interviewed in this exploratory study about disclosure. Certain cultural norms and factors related to Puerto Ricans' status as an oppressed minority in the United States were identified as making the disclosure of sexual abuse especially difficult for Puerto Rican children.     

Women's rights,the family,and organisational culture: a Lesotho case study

Traditional cultural norms have had significant implications for the work and internal structure of Lesotho Save the Children (LSC). From 1964-90, the organization's work focused entirely on the needs of neglected and abandoned boys, for whom it provided residential care. After consultation with the Department of Social Welfare, it was decided to make the residential center a haven for girls as well as boys in need of protection. Many girls in Lesotho experience physical and sexual abuse within their families; moreover, daughters in poor families are often placed in households of wealthier extended family as domestics, where further abuse occurs. Cultural discomfort acknowledging and discussing sexuality extended to Children's Village staff responsible for the care of child rape victims. Coercive sex is often a prelude to marriage in Lesotho, where many women are kidnapped and raped by their prospective bridegrooms. In-service training has enabled staff to overcome their reticence regarding sexual issues and view rape as a criminal act. Although LSC is unable to challenge the oppression of women and children implicit in the traditional family, it continues to encourage girls and women to protest sexual violence, the abuse of their daughters, and the unequal distribution of labor within the family. All children in the LSC residence perform both male- and female-defined duties and attempts are being made to reduce the division of labor among staff in which females are caretakers and males are authority figures.     

Training Mental Health Professionals in Child Sexual Abuse: Curricular Guidelines

This study explored whether counseling practices with women survivors of child sexual abuse reflect the belief that women do not sexually abuse children. Canadian therapists (n?=?164) who work with women survivors of child sexual abuse were surveyed about their beliefs about what constitutes child sexual abuse, who commits child sexual abuse, and their practices regarding inquiries about abusive behavior. A majority self-reported that they ask women and think it is important to ask but most believe that clients will not spontaneously self-disclose inappropriate sexual thoughts or behaviors. How broadly or narrowly therapists defined child sexual abuse was not related to self-reported therapeutic discussion. Therapists demonstrated differential gender beliefs about child sexual abuse perpetration, but this did not relate to self-reported counseling practices. Implications for therapist education are discussed.     

Sexual Abuse in Malawi: Patterns of Disclosure

Potential human immunodeficiency virus transmission makes prompt disclosure of child sexual abuse in Africa critical. The pattern of disclosure of 133 children presenting to the largest hospital in Malawi were analyzed. Eighty percent presented early enough for effective use of HIV postexposure prophylaxis. Seventy-five percent of children made a disclosure of child sexual abuse; 29% spontaneously and 47% after prompting. Disclosures were most commonly made to a parent, and age did not affect the pattern of disclosure. The number of children reporting child sexual abuse is increasing, possibly because of increasing awareness, availability of services, and fear of HIV. Although prompt disclosure rates were relatively high, facilitating easier disclosure of child sexual abuse by a free telephone help-line and better training of teachers may be helpful.     

How aware of child sexual abuse (CSA) are ethnic minority communities? A literature review and suggestions for raising awareness in Australia

A systematic literature review was conducted to help address the gap in national and international knowledge about child sexual abuse (CSA) and ethnic minority communities. This paper reports the findings of that review in relation to the theme of community awareness. The results suggest that awareness of CSA may be low in ethnic minority communities due to misperceptions that it is ‘a Western problem’. This in turn may be associated with norms in the country of origin which are asserted to transfer after migration, such as CSA being seen as a private family matter that does not invite systematic intervention from the state, low media and research attention, widespread acceptance of myths about CSA, and prohibitive norms on discussing matters to do with sex including abuse. Such trends are seen to be the result of, but also then further protect and preserve, collectivist and patriarchal structures. They also make it challenging for raising community awareness. Nevertheless, genuine community engagement through outreach/educational/preventative programs that empower minorities through co-delivery, are high on cultural competency, tailored to specific groups, and use a feminist framework where appropriate, are seen as necessary; they represent investment in minority communities and child safety of children from minority communities. Overall, realistic goals about the effectiveness of outreach educational programs, combined with value for culturally meaningful constructions of child safety, are seen as key toward the success of awareness-raising programs.     

Children’s Disclosure of Sexual Abuse: A Systematic Review of Qualitative Research Exploring Barriers and Facilitators

This study evaluates and synthesizes qualitative evidence addressing factors affecting a child’s decision to disclose an experience of sexual abuse. Childhood sexual abuse is a devastating crime, with long-term negative impacts. Understanding the factors that affect a child’s decision to disclose is vital. Disclosure enables access to support and protection, both therapeutically and legally. A systematic review was conducted focusing on factors affecting a child’s decision to disclose an experience of sexual abuse. Seven studies were identified, quality appraisal undertaken, and meta-ethnography used to synthesize the studies. Six new super-ordinate themes were developed: Fear of what will happen; Others’ reactions: fear of disbelief; Emotions and impact of the abuse; An opportunity to tell; Concern for self and others; and Feelings toward the abuser. Themes indicated the importance of support, structure, and opportunity to facilitate disclosure and should be utilized by agencies to develop practices that facilitate disclosures.     

Abuse during and before pregnancy: prevalence and cultural correlates

This study examined the prevalence of abuse during pregnancy and the influence of cultural norms and acculturation on abuse in 1,004 Mexican American, Puerto Rican, Cuban American, Central American, African American and Anglo American women. Women were recruited from consecutive delivery logs in general community hospitals in Florida and Massachusetts. The Index of Spouse Abuse and the Abuse Assessment Screen ascertained history of adult physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, abuse during pregnancy, and childhood sexual abuse. An Interview Protocol assessed cultural attitudes, acculturation, and demographic information. Hispanic American women, as a whole, did not differ significantly from Anglo American women in their prevalence of abuse during pregnancy, after controlling for sociodemographic variables. However, Cuban American and Central American partners were significantly less likely to abuse their pregnant partners than were other groups even after adjustment. Women who spoke only Spanish (less acculturated) were less likely to report physical abuse from their partners both before and during pregnancy. Cultural norms, such as a partner's belief in wife/mother role supremacy and cultural group acceptability of men hitting women, were significantly positively related to both physical and emotional abuse. Other risk factors for abuse were the abuser not being the biological father of the baby, low income and little education, and being unmarried.     

Common Beliefs About Child Sexual Abuse and Disclosure: A College Sample

ABSTRACT

Adults’ common beliefs about child sexual abuse and disclosure were explored. Participants (N = 670) were questioned about key areas of child sexual abuse that could affect decision-making processes of jurors evaluating child sexual abuse cases. These areas included victim and perpetrator characteristics, medical and behavioral indicators of child sexual abuse, memories for the event, and disclosure of the event. The scientific literature pertaining to these same areas are reviewed. While individual beliefs were consistent with some areas of the scientific literature (e.g., victim and perpetrator characteristics), they strongly contrasted the literature in other important areas (e.g., memories for the event, indicators of child sexual abuse, and the likelihood of denial and recantation). Implications, including the option of providing expert testimony to reduce discrepancies, are discussed.     

Teachers’ Knowledge and Beliefs About Child Sexual Abuse

Child sexual abuse is one of the main types of abuse still to be addressed within the field of education, yet the education system itself can serve as a primary tool for its prevention. A better understanding of teachers’ knowledge and beliefs about child sexual abuse will allow us to establish key starting points from which to utilize the system for prevention. Four hundred and fifty teachers participated in this study, completing a questionnaire regarding their knowledge and beliefs about child sexual abuse. The study revealed that over half the teachers, 65.3% (n = 294), had never received any type of training in child sexual abuse education and that the majority were not familiar with methods of identifying child sexual abuse, 90.7% (n = 279). Various mistaken beliefs were identified among the participating teachers, such as pathological profiles of abusers, that the vast majority of child sexual abuse implies violent behavior, and that there cannot be abusers the same age as the victim. These results indicate that knowledge deficiencies do exist about child sexual abuse among teachers and highlight the need for training in this field.     

The process of coping following child sexual abuse:a qualitative study

This research employed both quantitative and qualitative approaches to studying the immediate and long-term coping strategies adopted by survivors of child sexual abuse, focusing on how strategies evolve over time. Qualitative findings showed that coping with child sexual abuse is not static, but changes over time. The narratives of these nonclinical survivors suggest that an adaptive outcome may be associated with a particular evolution of strategies across time, i.e., survivors reported coping predominantly by engaging in psychological escape methods initially, and then adopting cognitive appraisal and positive reframing strategies in the longer term. It appears that coping processes can affect psychological outcome following child sexual abuse. This study offers insight into the evolution of coping methods associated with an adaptive outcome.     

Prevalence,Characteristics, and Associations of Sexual Abuse with Sociodemographics and Consensual Sex in a Population-Based Sample of Swedish Adolescents

The purpose of this study was to investigate lifetime prevalence and characteristics of self-reported child sexual abuse and associations between child sexual abuse, gender, sociodemographic data, and consensual sexual experiences. A questionnaire was completed by 4,339 Swedish high school seniors. Three categories of child sexual abuse were studied: noncontact, contact without penetration, and penetrating child sexual abuse. Penetrating child sexual abuse was correlated with the most severe abuse characteristics. Students reporting child sexual abuse, especially penetrating child sexual abuse, were more likely to not be living with both parents, to have parents with lower socioeconomic status, and to have their first consensual intercourse at a young age. The study showed that distinct categories of child sexual abuse must be employed since each category shows a specific pattern concerning abuse characteristics, sociodemographics, and consensual sex.     

Caregiver Needs Following Disclosure of Child Sexual Abuse

Caregiver support is vital in improving outcomes for child sexual abuse victims; however, the disclosure can significantly affect caregivers, thus impacting their ability to meet their children’s needs. To maximize the support from caregivers, their own needs following disclosure need to be met. This study investigated the impact of child sexual abuse disclosure and associated needs as identified by caregivers. Sixty needs assessment forms were collected from families who accessed a parenting support pilot program run in New Zealand. These forms were completed by nonoffending caregivers during an assessment session with their counselor and consisted of both open-ended and Likert scale questions focusing on both the needs of the child and the family. Caregivers identified a range of impacts of the disclosure on their children, themselves, and other families members and the related support that may be needed. In particular, caregivers identified that they needed support with child behavior management and with their own coping. The findings suggest that interventions with caregivers following disclosure of child sexual abuse may be a valuable adjunct to therapy provided directly to the child.     

Toward a culturally sensitive child sexual abuse prevention program for latinos

A culturally sensitive sexual abuse prevention program for Latinos is proposed which makes recommendations regarding style of interaction, discussion topics of importance, and other areas which need he considered in the design and implementation of such a program. The role of the child, parents, professionals, and others involved is discussed.     

Does Having Children Moderate the Effect of Child Sexual Abuse on Depression?

Nearly 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 20 boys under the age of 18 will be the victim of child sexual abuse. As adults, these individuals are more likely to report myriad mental illnesses including depression. Testing the hypothesis that having children would moderate the depressive effects of child sexual abuse, the authors used public-use data of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health Wave IV (n = 5,114; mean age = 29.00 years; SD = 1.78). Results indicate that having children significantly moderates the relationship between child sexual abuse and depression for females. Though the risk of depression is increased for all females with a child sexual abuse history, this increase is less dramatic for mothers. Two potential explanations of this effect are presented: biological and psychosocial. The possible implications for mental health professionals working with mothers with a child sexual abuse history include highlighting the role of their children as possible support.