Young Victims Telling their Stories of Sexual Abuse in the Emergency Department

Abstract

Among young children, child sexual abuse is a common type of maltreatment. Child sexual abuse (CSA) is an important national public health problem that has a devastating impact on the emotional and psychological makeup of the child, family, and society. The purpose of this analysis is to explore the young victim's own stories of disclosure of child sexual abuse and is an exploratory case study using reported assault histories of victims of CSA between the ages of 6 and 14, taken in the immediate wake of the assault. The data were extracted from the hospital records of child victims treated in an emergency department between 2006 and 2010. This qualitative research, using thematic analysis, explored the stories of sexual abuse for children as told by them. Two themes emerged regarding the experience of sex abuse and the immediate outcomes on the children: (1) Abuse Circumstances, which included the child's level of awareness of child sexual abuse, predisposing factors, and the perpetrator's preparation (physical, behavioral, and verbal tactics), and (2) Physical/Psychological Suffering associated with disclosure. These have important implications for all service and health care providers.