Potential Predictors for the Need for Multiple Psychological Treatment in Victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse

Abstract

Background: Child sexual abuse (CSA) has numerous long-term consequences, both physical and psychological. It is essential to identify victims who are more susceptible to the long-term consequences of CSA and who may benefit from long term treatment or monitoring. Objective: The aim of this study is to compare young patients who were treated once for the psychological consequences of sexual abuse to young patients treated more than once because of abuse-related problems. Methods: A retrospective study at the Psycho Trauma Centre (PTC) with an explorative set up was conducted using Electronic Health Records (EHR). Patients aged 4-18 who were treated once were compared with patients who were re-admitted to the centre for repeated psychological treatment with regard to patient characteristics and abuse characteristics using a Fisher’s Exact test. Results: 42 patients were included of which 35 girls and 7 boys. A significant association was found between gender and re-admission at the PTC, with boys being more in need of repeated treatment than girls, p < 0.001. Furthermore, a significant association was found between conviction of the offender and re-admission, showing victims whose offender was convicted were more often in need of multiple treatments, p < 0.01. Conclusion: Although the low number of patients included was a limitation of this study, still the findings serve as a theoretical foundation for identifying potential predictors for the need of multiple or repeated treatment during childhood. Further research is needed to provide additional support for the found associations regarding gender of the victim and conviction of the offender.