ABSTRACT
Objectives:
During Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, lockdown carried out all over the world has caused many health problems in children and adolescents. In addition to increased screen exposure, obesity and diabetes due to a sedentary lifestyle the risk of child abuse and neglect have also increased due to changing socioeconomic conditions. Childhood sexual abuse is a social problem with biopsychosocial consequences. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the characteristics of cases who applied to İzmir Child Advovacy Center (CAC) due to sexual abuse in the first 45 days of lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic in our country.
Materials and Methods:
In our study, the medical records of child sexual abuse cases who were admitted to İzmir CAC during the first 45 days of lockdown between March 25, 2020 and May 10, 2020 were evaluated retrospectively and descriptive analyses were performed.
Results:
The study group consisted of 53 children and adolescents, 92.5% of whom were girls (n=49) and 7.5% (n=5) were boys, with a mean age of 12.4±3.9 years. The most common form of admission was through law enforcement agencies, and the person most frequently reporting the case was the mother of the victim. The most common abusers were boyfriends or peers of the children whereas the rate of domestic abuse was 11%. According to our results, the admissions of child sexual abuse cases to İzmir CAC have decreased by approximately 50% compared to previous years in the first 45 days of lockdown. Domestic child sexual abuse rates were similar with the previous years and the general literature.
Conclusion:
Changing socioeconomic factors due to COVID-19 pandemic have caused increased risk for child abuse and neglect because of increased personal, social and relational stress. The findings of our study suggest that the rate of reporting child sexual abuse has decreased during the pandemic process. In addition, the decreased rate of strangers as abusers compared to the general literature may be a result of social distance carried out during pandemic.
Keywords:
COVID-19, pandemic, lockdown, child sexual abuse
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