Social-demographic Characteristics of Children Survivors of Incest who Developed PTSD between the Ages of 6 and 17 Years

Abstract

a traumatic event. Incest is such a cause which affects the child psychologically, socially and physically. The study purposed to assess the social demographic characteristics of (PTSD) among child survivors of incest aged between 6-17 years seen at Nairobi Women’s Hospital Gender Based Violence & Recovery Centre (GVRC) in Nairobi County. The population included caregivers/parents, survivors, and key informants. The study used purposive sampling to select the site and utilized random sampling to select the key informants. The sample size comprised of 20 survivors, 20 parents and 2 key informants. Data was collected through TSCYC scale, and observation. The findings of this study pointed out that the prevalence of PTSD among child survivors of incest was 60 %; the levels of other psychological disorders stood at: Depression (63.69 ± 6.249SD), Anxiety (64.6 ± 7.123SD), Anger/aggression (64.43 ± 7.24SD), Dissociation (61.67 ± 8.753SD), and Sexual concerns (105.86 ± 8.536). All these were clinically significant; out of the 42 child survivors of incest, 9(21.4%) were traumatized, 4(9.5%) had depression, 2(4.8%) had an infection, 1(2.4%) had pregnancy, 1(2.4%) was sick while 25(59.5%) had a combination of all the other effects; 37(88%) of the child survivors went to hospital while 5(12%) visited any other professional for help. The study also found out that the level of education (r=-0.017, p=0.913), familiarity with perpetrator (r=-0.232, p=0.139), and relationship with perpetrator (r=-0.133, p=0.401) were negatively correlated with PTSD. However, gender (r=0.170, p=0.282), place of assault (r=0.039, p=0.806), and frequency of abuse (r=0.110, p=0.487) were positively correlated with PTSD. The study concluded that PTSD was prevalent among children survivors of incest and the effects were varied. The caregivers were unaware of its existence and ill-equipped to pursue a treatment plan. Keywords: PTSD, young girls, survivors, Social-Demographic Characteristics, Incest