Abstract
Objective
To study the prevalence and spectrum of self-reported childhood sexual abuse (CSA) in a sample of medical students from a medical college in Southern India.
Methods
A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to consenting students of a medical college located at Puducherry. Those students who could not be contacted despite three attempts were excluded.
Results
Of total 452 students, 148 (32.7%) students reported experiencing one or other form of CSA. Prevalence of CSA was almost equal in both the sexes. Most instances of CSA occurred either at own house (33.8%) or at a neighbor’s house (22.9%). Majority (60.1%) did not inform anyone; due to fear of negative consequences (43.2%) and feelings of guilt (30.4%) most commonly.
Conclusion
Approximately one third of medical students reported an incident of sexual abuse at least once in his/her life. Both girls and boys are equally likely to face CSA.
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Ethics clearance
Institutional ethics committee of Indira Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute; No. 17/IEC/IGMC/F-7/2017 dated 21 November, 2017.
Contributors
RDM: Conception and design, AS: Analysis and interpretation of the data, MC: Drafting of the article, Manuscript preparation, MB: Manuscript editing, Final approval of the article, PM: Literature search, YB: Statistical analysis, RR: Collection and assembly of data.
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None
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None stated.
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Rathinam, R.D., Singh, A., Chopra, M. et al. Spectrum of Self-Reported Childhood Sexual Abuse Among Medical Students: A Single Center Experience. Indian Pediatr 58, 564–567 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13312-021-2242-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13312-021-2242-2