Child sexual abuse in a cohort of children under 8 years of age.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Child sexual abuse in a cohort of children under 8 years of age attending a Paediatric SARC: type of assault, injuries and disclosure of abuse.
IRAS ID
130261
Contact name
Cath White
Contact email
Research summary
Following alleged sexual assault, detection of injuries during forensic medical examination allows assessment of need for treatment such as post-exposure prophylaxis e.g. for HIV, and may also influence the criminal justice process and/or civil proceedings. Sexual abuse, especially of children, is a difficult crime to detect and prove and there will seldom be independent witnesses. The presence of unexplained findings, particularly in the anogenital area, can be valuable corroborative evidence. It is important for decision-makers, legally and within safeguarding, to be able to evaluate the examination findings with reference to what might be expected, given the nature of the disclosure, demographic factors including age and time since assault. Research that explores injury rates, types and sites of injuries and rates of healing will assist with these difficult decisions. It is a commonly-held belief that any victim of child sexual abuse will have physical evidence. Clinicians involved in this work know this is not the case, but it is crucial that this knowledge is underpinned by solid research evidence.
Many previous studies have combined results for acute and historic abuse, boys and girls and for a wide age range: children not only grow in size, but genitalia alter during puberty secondary to hormonal influence. All these factors are hypothesised to cause variation in the rate and types of injury following varied types of assault. This research compares the outcomes of medical and forensic evaluation of girls and boys under the age of 8 years seen at a large paediatric sexual assault referral centre through anonymised review of the clinical notes and photodocumentation. The inclusion criteria are restricted to this age range as this group is highly likely to be pre-pubertal. Data will be gathered about nature of the assault, evidence for the allegation, time since assault and criminal justice system outcomes.
REC name
North West - Liverpool Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/NW/0454
Date of REC Opinion
5 Jun 2013
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion