NCJ Number
231997
Journal
Child Abuse & Neglect Volume: 34 Issue: 8 Dated: August 2010 Pages: 602-609
Date Published
August 2010
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This study's primary objective was to assess children's self-reported anxiety during physical examinations conducted to determine whether or not sexual abuse has occurred; a second objective was to compare children's self-reported anxiety to parent reports of the child's anxiety and medical provider's rating of the child's emotional distress.
Abstract
The study found that a significant subgroup of children reported clinically significant anxiety levels at the pre-examination assessment (17.1 percent) and postexamination assessment (15.4 percent); however, most children reported low anxiety at both pre-examination and postexamination. Both child and parent reports indicated less anxiety, on average, at postexamination compared to pre-examination periods. Based on the modest correlations across informants, parents and medical providers are often unaware of the level of anxiety that children experience in ano-genital examinations for suspected child sexual abuse. Although the majority of children did not report clinically significant levels of anxiety either before or after the medical evaluation, interventions to reduce anxiety are warranted in this clinical setting. A total of 175 child/parent dyads completed the Multidimensional Anxiety Score (MASC-10 for Children and MASC-10 for adults). The assessment of medical provider's rating of a child's emotional distress used the Genital Examination Distress Scale. 3 tables, 3 figures, and 27 references