Child Sexual Abuse: A Preliminary Study

• NCJ Number: 179116
• Journal: Journal of Clinical Forensic Medicine Volume: 5 Issue: 4 Dated: December 1998 Pages: 176-182
• Author(s): Teresa Magalhaes; M. J. Carneiro de Sousa; A. Gomes da Silva; D. Pinto da Costa; A. C. Grams; C. Ribeiro; R. Gonzalez; J. Pinto da Costa
• Editor(s): J. Jason Payne-James
• Date Published: December 1998
• Length: 7 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

This article evaluates the usefulness of a particular questionnaire in eliciting information about child sexual abuse.

Abstract

Because there are no absolute criteria for determining the occurrence of child sexual abuse, a thorough understanding of a possible incident requires detailed examination of the victim, the offender and all environmental circumstances. To avoid having a child repeat his or her story many times for doctors, police and judges, a multidisciplinary protocol was devised in 1997 at the Oporto, Portugal, Institute of Forensic Medicine. The article analyzes how well the questionnaire elicited data regarding 52 child victims of sexual abuse, their family backgrounds, the abusers, the events, and forensic examinations. To further reduce the number of child interviews, many authorities advocate joint interviews involving, among other specialists, pediatricians, social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists and forensic doctors. Some characteristic symptoms and behaviors of child victims should be analyzed with further studies. Figures, tables, references