Abstract:
Background: Although child sexual abuse (CSA) is recognized as a serious violation of human well-being and of the law, no community has yet developed mechanisms that ensure that none of their youth will be sexually abused. Child sexual abuse is, sadly, an international problem of great magnitude that can affect children of all ages, sexes, races, ethnicities, and socioeconomic classes.
Objectives: To assess the magnitude and factors associated with child sexual abuse among abused cases of Gynecology Out-patient Department(GOPD) visiting AHMC from Jan 2012 to Dec 2014.
Methods: A hospital based retrospective record review study was conducted with the aim of assessing the magnitude and factors associated with of child sexual abuse among abused cases of Gynecology Out-patient Department(GOPD) visiting Adama Hospital Medical College from Jan 2012 to Dec 2014. There were 891 sexually abused patient record from Jan 2012 to Dec 2014 was taken from gynecology's out patient department. The data was collected by abstraction format and transferred in to Epinfo Version 3.5,CDC Atlanta. The entered data was coded, cleaned and transferred to SPSS Version 20 computer statistical soft ware for analysis. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression models were used to test the presence and strength of association between clinically confirmed sexual abuse and, age and sex of the victim, place of residence and educational status of victim. Odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals were generated. Significance was taken as p-value < 0.05
Results: During the study period, we identified records of 891 cases that were seen for sexual abuse. The majority of the victims were female (93.8%). The mean age of the victims was 13 years (standard deviation (SD) =4.4 years) and age of less than 18 years old accounts 89.1%. Most of the abusers were known to the victim (96.4%) and 99.2% have no previous sexual abuse. Generally, sexually abused victims were accounts in 2012 (19.4%), 2013 (35.4%) and 2014 (45.2%). On bivariate analysis, clinically confirmed child sexual abuse was significantly associated with sex of the victim: female victims of sexual abuse presented significantly more abused than males (Crude odds ratio (COR), 6.69; 95% CI, 2.372-18.7.; P-value = 0.001); and living out of Adama significantly had confirmed sexually abused than living in Adama (COR, 1.85; 95% CI, 1.37-2.50; P-value = 0.010).
Conclusion and Recommendations: In our study, the majorities were children less than eighteen years and female children appear to be more prone to sexual abuse than male. so we recommend that communities, parents and teachers should give the necessary care and protection to children.
........................................ Thesis available at ACIPH Library