Physical and sexual abuse against women and children

Examining the Roles of Prior Victimization, Perpetrator Identity and the Correlates of Female Rape Myth Acceptance Among Indian Females

This research attempts to address a widely under-explained phenomenon of female rape myth acceptance (RMA) among the female population. A total number of 500 literate women from India with a mean age of 28.89 years were selected to examine the different determinants of their RMA. The research explored the important correlates of RMA among women, where the stepwise regression model revealed the significant impact of sexual desires, rejection sensitivity, loneliness, and neuroticism/emotional stability on their RMA. This further implied that women high on these four constructs run a 17.7% chance of endorsing female rape myths. The model eliminated the construct of online pornography usage, owing to its non-significant impact on RMA. Further, it was revealed that the history of prior victimization had a significant effect on the rape myths endorsed by the women. The study also reflected on the identity of the perpetrators of the women with a prior victimization history, where 55.43% reported it was perpetrated by a "known" person in their last experienced assault (and 44.57% "stranger" perpetrator). Whereas most women were victimized by "known" perpetrators, there was no significant difference in the sample's RMA, between the perpetrator identity groups (known and stranger perpetrators). The research concretely adds novel knowledge on identifying and predicting the female rape supportive attitudes among females.

Child sexual abuse, coping strategies and lifetime posttraumatic stress disorder among female inmates

The purpose of the study was to assess the relationship between child sexual abuse (CSA) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in female inmates in China. A total of 471 participants were assessed for CSA, personality traits, coping strategies, and frequency of lifetime PTSD. Results demonstrated that CSA and negative coping were predictive factors for lifetime PTSD among female inmates after personality traits were controlled. The findings suggest that CSA is one potential factor contributing to lifetime PTSD among female inmates. The importance of screening for CSA among female inmates was highly emphasized. Early intervention and prevention programmes based on coping skills may be useful to forestall the development of chronic PTSD in female inmates.

The impact and cumulative effects of intimate partner abuse during pregnancy on health-related quality of life among Hong Kong Chinese women

OBJECTIVE

to explore the prevalence of intimate partner abuse during pregnancy and to examine the effect and cumulative effects of different types of intimate partner abuse on health-related quality of life.

DESIGN

a retrospective, cross-sectional, comparative design.

SETTING

three postnatal wards of a university-affiliated regional public hospital in Hong Kong.

PARTICIPANTS

a community-based sample (n=1200) of postnatal women.

MEASUREMENTS

the women were identified as abused or non-abused using the Abuse Assessment Screen Questionnaire (AAS), and various types of abuse were elaborated using the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS-2). The Medical Outcomes Study Short-form 36 Health Survey (SF-36) measured the health-related quality of life.

FINDINGS

the prevalence rate of intimate partner abuse during pregnancy was 134 out of 1200 (11.2%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 9.4-13.0%). They consisted of an only psychologically abused group (32.1%, 95% CI 24.2-40.0%), an only physically abused group (20.9%, 95% CI 14.0-27.8%), and a combined psychological and physically abused group (47.0%, 95% CI 38.5-55.5%). Over half of the women (53.0%, 95% CI 44.5-61.5%) experienced more than one type of abuse. Women who had experienced different types of intimate partner abuse were associated with lower scores in the majority of domains and the subscales of the SF-36 (p<0.05), and there was a cumulative effect of abuse on the health-related quality of life of the women.

CONCLUSIONS

the problem of intimate partner abuse during pregnancy is similar to most Western countries, and the negative effect of different types of such abuse on the health-related quality of life over time seems to be cumulative.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

the relatively poor health-related quality of life of the abused women highlights the necessity of developing a checklist or a structured questionnaire that will assist in the detection of different types and combinations of intimate partner abuse, and that will be helpful in the development of more effective preventive interventions or programmes.

Lesões buco-dentais em mulheres em situação de violência: um estudo piloto de casos periciados no IML de Belo Horizonte, MG

A violência tem mostrado tendência ascendente, nos últimos anos, no Brasil. Nesse cenário, a violência sofrida pela mulher vem-se tornando mais visível à sociedade a partir das denúncias de agressões sofridas. Este estudo se propõe a descrever dados referentes às lesões corporais na região peribucal em mulheres que sofreram agressão. Foram analisados os registros e laudos encaminhados ao setor de Odontologia do IML de Belo Horizonte, referentes ao período de janeiro de 2001 a junho de 2002. Neste período, foram atendidas 108 mulheres. A faixa etária predominante foi a de 20 a 39 anos (70,4%). A maioria dessas mulheres declarou: ser solteira (63,0%) e ser natural do interior do Estado (48,1%). Quanto à ocupação encontrou-se: 24% que realizam trabalhos domésticos, 21% que são donas-de-casa e 14% que trabalham no comércio. A proporção de mulheres procedentes das Delegacias Seccionais foi maior do que aquelas encaminhadas pelas Delegacias de Mulheres. A lesão de tecido mole mais freqüente foi a laceração; a de tecidos duros e da polpa foram as fraturas de esmalte e dentina sem complicações; a de tecidos periodontais foi a concussão; e foram observadas duas lesões em tecidos ósseos. O estudo permitiu constatar a necessidade de uma coleta de dados mais cuidadosa nos exames periciais, de modo a disponibilizar informação mais detalhada da violência contra as mulheres; além disso, revelou que as lesões buco-dentais são freqüentes e representam uma grande demanda para os serviços odontológicos de saúde pública que prestam esse atendimento.

'Disgust, disgust beyond description'- shame cues to detect shame in disguise, in interviews with women who were sexually abused during childhood

Shame is a recurrent theme in the context of sexually abused women. Sexual abuse is taboo and shameful, and so is shame. Shame affects the development of a person and relationships, and is mentally painful. It is often covert. One aim of the present study was to explore whether and how women exposed to sexual abuse during childhood verbally express unacknowledged overt and covert shame, when interviewed about their physical and mental health, relations and circumstances relating to the sexual abuse. Another aim was, if shame was present, to describe the quality of the shame expressed by the women. A mainly qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews was used. Ten women attending self-help groups for women who were sexually abused during childhood were recruited as informants. The interviews were analysed for verbal expressions of shame by identifying code words and phrases, which were first sorted into six shame indicator groups and then categorized into various aspects of shame. The frequency of the code words and phrases was also counted. The findings clearly reveal that the affect of shame is present and negatively influences the lives of the informants in this study. It was possible to sort the code words and phrases most often mentioned into the indicator groups 'alienated', 'inadequate' and 'hurt', in the order of their frequency. It is obvious that shame affects the lives of this study's informants in negative ways. One important clinical implication for professionals in health care and psychiatric services is to acknowledge both sexual abuse and shame in order to make it possible for patients to work through it and thereby help them psychologically to improve their health.