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2.1 - Child victims of sexual abuse

from Part II - Assessments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 July 2010

Jennifer M. Brown
Affiliation:
London School of Economics and Political Science
Elizabeth A. Campbell
Affiliation:
University of Glasgow
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Summary

This chapter provides a snapshot of the vast body of research available about the assessment of child victims of sexual abuse. It also analyzes how the suspicions come to light and the effects of disclosing on children. There are two main reasons why a child suspected of being a victim of sexual abuse will be assessed: for investigative and for treatment purposes. Physical trauma is the most obvious sign of sexual abuse but actually it is often not present in child sexual abuse. Checklists provide a useful tool for the assessment of child victims of sexual abuse, but they should not be used in isolation or without the appropriate reliability and validity tests. Anatomically correct dolls are very widely used. They help children provide details about genital contacts, and they can elicit sensitive information over and above the information provided by simple recall.
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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

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