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Mental health of sexual assault victims and predictors of their use of support from in-house psychologists at Belgian sexual assault care centres
BACKGROUND: Sexual assault (SA) can induce a negative impact on victims’ mental health. Specialised SA services generally offer medical care and a forensic examination to SA victims. However, there is a large variation in how these services provide mental health support. OBJECTIVE: This study aims t...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Taylor & Francis
2023
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10569350/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37819370 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20008066.2023.2263312 |
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author | Baert, Saar Fomenko, Elizaveta Machiels, Aurélie Bicanic, Iva Van Belle, Sara Gemmel, Paul Gilles, Christine Roelens, Kristien Keygnaert, Ines |
author_facet | Baert, Saar Fomenko, Elizaveta Machiels, Aurélie Bicanic, Iva Van Belle, Sara Gemmel, Paul Gilles, Christine Roelens, Kristien Keygnaert, Ines |
author_sort | Baert, Saar |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Sexual assault (SA) can induce a negative impact on victims’ mental health. Specialised SA services generally offer medical care and a forensic examination to SA victims. However, there is a large variation in how these services provide mental health support. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to assess mental health problems of SA victims attending the Belgian Sexual Assault Care Centres (SACCs) and identify predictors for victims’ use of support from in-house psychologists. METHOD: Health records of victims ≥ 16 years who presented within one week post-SA to one of the three Belgian SACCs between 25 October 2017 and 31 October 2019 were reviewed. An AIC-based stepwise backward binary logistic regression was used to analyse the association between victim, assault, service use and mental health characteristics and follow-up by a SACC-psychologist. RESULTS: Of the 555 victims, more than half had a history of mental health problems. Of those assessed, over 70% showed symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and/or anxiety disorder. One in two victims consulted a SACC-psychologist. Victims with a mental health history (OR 1.46, p = .04), victims accompanied by a support person during acute care (OR 1.51, p = .04), and victims who were assaulted by an acquaintance in comparison to those assaulted by a stranger (OR 1.60, p = .039) were more likely to attend their appointment with the SACC-psychologist. CONCLUSION: The study reaffirms the high mental health burden among victims attending specialised SA services, stressing the need to provide effective mental health interventions at these services and improve their longer-term use by victims. Prescheduling of appointments with an in-house psychologist in combination with phone reminders may improve the uptake of such services. Health care providers must be vigilant about potential barriers faced by victims without a mental health history or social support in attending appointments with mental health professionals. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10569350 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | Taylor & Francis |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-105693502023-10-13 Mental health of sexual assault victims and predictors of their use of support from in-house psychologists at Belgian sexual assault care centres Baert, Saar Fomenko, Elizaveta Machiels, Aurélie Bicanic, Iva Van Belle, Sara Gemmel, Paul Gilles, Christine Roelens, Kristien Keygnaert, Ines Eur J Psychotraumatol Clinical Research Article BACKGROUND: Sexual assault (SA) can induce a negative impact on victims’ mental health. Specialised SA services generally offer medical care and a forensic examination to SA victims. However, there is a large variation in how these services provide mental health support. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to assess mental health problems of SA victims attending the Belgian Sexual Assault Care Centres (SACCs) and identify predictors for victims’ use of support from in-house psychologists. METHOD: Health records of victims ≥ 16 years who presented within one week post-SA to one of the three Belgian SACCs between 25 October 2017 and 31 October 2019 were reviewed. An AIC-based stepwise backward binary logistic regression was used to analyse the association between victim, assault, service use and mental health characteristics and follow-up by a SACC-psychologist. RESULTS: Of the 555 victims, more than half had a history of mental health problems. Of those assessed, over 70% showed symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and/or anxiety disorder. One in two victims consulted a SACC-psychologist. Victims with a mental health history (OR 1.46, p = .04), victims accompanied by a support person during acute care (OR 1.51, p = .04), and victims who were assaulted by an acquaintance in comparison to those assaulted by a stranger (OR 1.60, p = .039) were more likely to attend their appointment with the SACC-psychologist. CONCLUSION: The study reaffirms the high mental health burden among victims attending specialised SA services, stressing the need to provide effective mental health interventions at these services and improve their longer-term use by victims. Prescheduling of appointments with an in-house psychologist in combination with phone reminders may improve the uptake of such services. Health care providers must be vigilant about potential barriers faced by victims without a mental health history or social support in attending appointments with mental health professionals. Taylor & Francis 2023-10-11 /pmc/articles/PMC10569350/ /pubmed/37819370 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20008066.2023.2263312 Text en © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) ), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent. |
spellingShingle | Clinical Research Article Baert, Saar Fomenko, Elizaveta Machiels, Aurélie Bicanic, Iva Van Belle, Sara Gemmel, Paul Gilles, Christine Roelens, Kristien Keygnaert, Ines Mental health of sexual assault victims and predictors of their use of support from in-house psychologists at Belgian sexual assault care centres |
title | Mental health of sexual assault victims and predictors of their use of support from in-house psychologists at Belgian sexual assault care centres |
title_full | Mental health of sexual assault victims and predictors of their use of support from in-house psychologists at Belgian sexual assault care centres |
title_fullStr | Mental health of sexual assault victims and predictors of their use of support from in-house psychologists at Belgian sexual assault care centres |
title_full_unstemmed | Mental health of sexual assault victims and predictors of their use of support from in-house psychologists at Belgian sexual assault care centres |
title_short | Mental health of sexual assault victims and predictors of their use of support from in-house psychologists at Belgian sexual assault care centres |
title_sort | mental health of sexual assault victims and predictors of their use of support from in-house psychologists at belgian sexual assault care centres |
topic | Clinical Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10569350/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37819370 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20008066.2023.2263312 |
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