NCJ Number
225503
Journal
Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect Volume: 20 Issue: 4 Dated: 2008 Pages: 323-335
Date Published
2008
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This literature review examines what is known about postmenopausal women and genital injuries that can result from both consensual sexual intercourse and sexual assault.
Abstract
Based on the seven articles reviewed, it is evident that genital injuries occur more frequently and with more severity in sexually assaulted women who are postmenopausal compared with younger victims of sexual assault. This supports the hypothesis that postmenopausal women are more likely to sustain genital trauma secondary to the physiological and anatomical changes that occur as a result of menopause and general aging processes. No articles were found that directly examined the difference in the injuries postmenopausal women sustained as a result of consensual sexual intercourse compared with those resulting from sexual assault. If older women sustain genital injury from consensual sexual intercourse, it is crucial to compare the location and severity of those injuries to injuries older women may sustain as a result of sexual assault. This may help forensic sexual assault examiners develop a classification of genital trauma based on the degree and type of injury. The literature review was performed with the use of the search engines PubMed and CINAHL, as well as the major Internet search engine Google. The key terms searched were sexual assault and postmenopausal women, rape and genital injuries, elder abuse, and sexual dysfunction and older women. This search found only seven articles for review. Of these, three were comparative descriptive designs; one was a descriptive study design; two were descriptive correlational designs; and one was a predictive research design. 1 table and 30 references