Research spotlight
At intervals we shall be featuring particular pieces of research that we hope you find interesting for discussion.
Our sixth research spotlight features an issue of great public concern, internet sexual predators. Mitchell, Finkelhor and Wolak made the unexpected research finding that though the stereotype of internet crimes is of unknown adults meeting young victims online, these were almost equalled in numbers by family members and acquaintances of the children. The paper makes important recommendations for how these findings affect prevention and protection from abuse - including the safety messages we need to give children and young people, improvements in collecting evidence, and more effective intervention strategies.
- Mitchell, Finkelhor and Wolak 2005: The Internet and Family and Acquaintance Sexual Abuse [pdf 114k].
Our next and fifth research spotlight challenges prejudices that children may make up, exaggerate or be influenced to tell of being sexually abused. Sjoberg and Lindblad's interviews with children whose abuse was already documented found there was "a significant tendency to deny or belittle their experiences" even when leading questions were asked. "There was an absence of false claims of sexual abuse... the research suggests professionals will never be able to identify through children's narratives all victims of sexual abuse
Our fourth research spotlight is the newly-issued final report of a Scottish qualitative research project, Care & Support Needs of Men who survived Childhood Sexual Abuse. The recommendations aims to improve services and preventive action for boys and men, across all sectors. This collaborative research was between the voluntary sector mental health agency, Health in Mind, and The University of Edinburgh’s Centre for Research on Families and Relationships (CRFR). The full report and conference presentation is at the link: http://www.crfr.ac.uk/reports/male%20survivors%20report.pdf
Our third research spotlight looks at an area which has sparked some interesting debates within mental health: the possible role of childhood abuse trauma in triggering psychotic illnesses. Dr John Read has been one prolific researcher in this field. Here he reviews the research literature, concluding that “researchers and clinicians should routinely ask about childhood trauma, when trying to understand or assist people diagnosed as psychotic or schizophrenic”.
- Reid J. et al 2005: Childhood trauma, psychosis and schizophrenia; a literature review with theoretical and clinical implications.: Psychosis and Schizophrenia [pdf 226k].
Our new (second) research spotlight proves very topical. It shows that the effects of sexual and physical abuse and other childhood traumas account for half to two-thirds of serious problems with illicit drug use. Therefore, progress in meeting national goals for reducing drug misuse need to address these common, stressful and disturbing childhood experiences.
- Dube, SR.et al.2003. Childhood Abuse, Neglect, and Household Dysfunction and the Risk of Illicit Drug Use: The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study [pdf 278k].
The first Research Spotlight reports the findings of a review by Nelson, Baldwin and Taylor (2006) on an aspect of physical health that troubles many adult survivors of sexual abuse: medically-unexplained physical symptoms.
- MentalHealth Problems and Medically-unexplained Physical Symptoms in Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Literature Review and Scoping Exercise
