1. An Overview of Child Sexual Abuse Research Conducted in Low and Middle Income Countries Between 2011–2021
- Author:
- Nicole Gonzalez, Anik Gevers, and Elizabeth Dartnall
- Publication Date:
- 05-2022
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- The Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI)
- Abstract:
- To strengthen our understanding of what kinds of child sexual abuse research is coming from low and middle income countries we conducted a brief scoping review of studies published over the past 10 years. One hundred and ninety four studies were included in this review based on a search of the MEDLINE (PubMed) database. The majority of articles were epidemiological studies (n=146) and the remaining articles included intervention studies, methodology and ethics work, and theory and frameworks articles. Most publications were based on research conducted in the SubSaharan Africa region (n=98) and the fewest publications were from the East Asia and Pacific region. The review revealed that there is no cohesive body of evidence and that there seems little connection between, for example, epidemiological research and intervention research. Further, very little of the epidemiological research focused on identifying the risk and protective factors for child sexual abuse including the drivers of perpetration and more analysis of the norms, systems, and social structures that impact and influence child sexual abuse. The review found several methodological gaps in the evidence base as studies utilized different definitions of child sexual abuse, a variety of measurements for child sexual abuse, and at times grounding in ethics was not clear. Few studies were intersectional (n=25). More priority-driven child sexual abuse research is needed from low and middle income countries with clear links to policy and practice. A clear, shared research agenda is needed to guide the field toward building a cohesive evidence base as well as capacity strengthening to address methodological and ethics issues of this research. This research should be intersectional in order to build a nuanced understanding of child sexual abuse across diverse and particularly marginalised or vulnerabilised groups. There is evidence on the mental health impact of child sexual abuse but few studies evaluated interventions that addressed these outcomes among survivors. Research that will improve our understanding of the drivers, risk factors, and protective factors for different forms of child sexual abuse – including perpetration of this violence – is needed to inform prevention intervention strategies.
- Topic:
- Ethics, Research, Sexual Violence, Methodology, and Child Sexual Abuse (CSA)
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus