a Centre for Evidence-Based Intervention, Department of Social Policy & Intervention , University of Oxford , Oxford , UK.
b OPTENTIA, School of Behavioural Sciences , North-West University , Vanderbijlpark , South Africa.
Psychol Health Med. 2017 Mar;22(sup1):94-106. doi: 10.1080/13548506.2016.1271950. Epub 2017 Jan 19.
Physical, emotional and sexual child abuse are major problems in South Africa. This study investigates whether children know about post-abuse services, if they disclose and seek services, and what the outcomes of help-seeking behaviour are. It examines factors associated with request and receipt of services. Confidential self-report questionnaires were completed by adolescents aged 10-17 (n = 3515) in South Africa. Prevalence of frequent (>weekly) physical abuse was 7.4%, frequent emotional abuse 12.4%, and lifetime contact sexual abuse 9.0%. 98.6% could name one suitable confidante or formal service for abuse disclosure, but only 20.0% of abuse victims disclosed. Of those, 72% received help. Most common confidantes were caregivers and teachers. Of all abuse victims, 85.6% did not receive help due to non-disclosure or inactivity of services, and 14.4% received help: 4.9% from formal health or social services and 7.1% through community vigilante action. Emotional abuse, sexual abuse and female gender were associated with higher odds of help-seeking. While children in South Africa showed high knowledge of available services, access to and receipt of formal services among abused children was low. Notably fewer children received help from formal services than through community vigilante action. Urgent action is needed to improve service access for child abuse victims.
身体、情感和性虐待儿童是南非的一个主要问题。本研究调查了儿童是否了解虐待后的服务，如果他们披露并寻求服务，以及寻求帮助行为的结果是什么。它检查了与请求和接受服务相关的因素。在南非，10-17 岁的青少年（n=3515）填写了保密的自我报告问卷。频繁（每周>一次）身体虐待的患病率为 7.4%，频繁情感虐待为 12.4%，终身接触性虐待为 9.0%。98.6%的人可以说出一个适合透露虐待信息的知己或正式服务，但只有 20.0%的虐待受害者会透露。其中，72%的人得到了帮助。最常见的知己是照顾者和教师。在所有虐待受害者中，由于未透露或服务未采取行动，85.6%的人没有得到帮助，14.4%的人得到了帮助：4.9%来自正式的卫生或社会服务，7.1%通过社区义务治安行动。情感虐待、性虐待和女性性别与寻求帮助的可能性更高有关。尽管南非的儿童对现有服务表现出很高的了解程度，但受虐待儿童获得和接受正式服务的机会很低。值得注意的是，从正式服务获得帮助的儿童比通过社区义务治安行动获得帮助的儿童少。迫切需要采取行动，改善虐待儿童受害者获得服务的机会。
