Current care for victims of sexual violence and future sexual assault care centres in Belgium: the perspective of victims

BACKGROUND: Sexual violence is a global health problem. After ratifying the Convention of Istanbul in 2016, this Belgian study was set up to map the perspective of victims of rape on the current sexual violence care provision in Belgium and to inquire on their need for more specialised and holistic...

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Autores principales: Peeters, Laura, Vandenberghe, Anke, Hendriks, Bavo, Gilles, Christine, Roelens, Kristien, Keygnaert, Ines
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6598354/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31248413
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12914-019-0207-5
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author Peeters, Laura
Vandenberghe, Anke
Hendriks, Bavo
Gilles, Christine
Roelens, Kristien
Keygnaert, Ines
author_facet Peeters, Laura
Vandenberghe, Anke
Hendriks, Bavo
Gilles, Christine
Roelens, Kristien
Keygnaert, Ines
author_sort Peeters, Laura
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Sexual violence is a global health problem. After ratifying the Convention of Istanbul in 2016, this Belgian study was set up to map the perspective of victims of rape on the current sexual violence care provision in Belgium and to inquire on their need for more specialised and holistic care in future Sexual Assault Care Centres. METHODS: Sixteen rape victims participated in this sub-study. A mixed-method design (questionnaire, in-depth interview or small focus group) was applied depending on the time elapsed between rape and participation. Descriptive Thematic Framework Analysis was performed in duo. RESULTS: The participants thought it of utmost importance that every victim should receive all medical, psychological and forensic care without necessarily having to involve the police first. They stated that the current Belgian sexual violence care provision could be much more patient-centred, specifically the forensic examination and psychological care. Alongside medical and psychological consequences, victims emphasised the high personal financial and relational burden of sexual violence. The holistic care offered in Sexual Assault Care Centres was perceived to enhance the recovery process of victims of sexual violence. Their doors should be open to all victims and their relatives. They should not only provide acute care for the victim, but also improve victims’ reintegration into society while reducing their personal costs significantly. CONCLUSION: All care for victims of sexual violence, especially forensic and psychological care, needs drastic improvement in Belgium. All participants agreed that having specialised, multidisciplinary and longitudinal care in a Sexual Assault Care Centre that would be open 24/7 for everyone, victims and their significant others, would be an improvement to the currently available care all over Belgium. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This research was registered on April 1st 2016. Registration number B670201628242.
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spelling pubmed-65983542019-07-11 Current care for victims of sexual violence and future sexual assault care centres in Belgium: the perspective of victims Peeters, Laura Vandenberghe, Anke Hendriks, Bavo Gilles, Christine Roelens, Kristien Keygnaert, Ines BMC Int Health Hum Rights Research Article BACKGROUND: Sexual violence is a global health problem. After ratifying the Convention of Istanbul in 2016, this Belgian study was set up to map the perspective of victims of rape on the current sexual violence care provision in Belgium and to inquire on their need for more specialised and holistic care in future Sexual Assault Care Centres. METHODS: Sixteen rape victims participated in this sub-study. A mixed-method design (questionnaire, in-depth interview or small focus group) was applied depending on the time elapsed between rape and participation. Descriptive Thematic Framework Analysis was performed in duo. RESULTS: The participants thought it of utmost importance that every victim should receive all medical, psychological and forensic care without necessarily having to involve the police first. They stated that the current Belgian sexual violence care provision could be much more patient-centred, specifically the forensic examination and psychological care. Alongside medical and psychological consequences, victims emphasised the high personal financial and relational burden of sexual violence. The holistic care offered in Sexual Assault Care Centres was perceived to enhance the recovery process of victims of sexual violence. Their doors should be open to all victims and their relatives. They should not only provide acute care for the victim, but also improve victims’ reintegration into society while reducing their personal costs significantly. CONCLUSION: All care for victims of sexual violence, especially forensic and psychological care, needs drastic improvement in Belgium. All participants agreed that having specialised, multidisciplinary and longitudinal care in a Sexual Assault Care Centre that would be open 24/7 for everyone, victims and their significant others, would be an improvement to the currently available care all over Belgium. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This research was registered on April 1st 2016. Registration number B670201628242. BioMed Central 2019-06-27 /pmc/articles/PMC6598354/ /pubmed/31248413 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12914-019-0207-5 Text en © The Author(s). 2019 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research Article
Peeters, Laura
Vandenberghe, Anke
Hendriks, Bavo
Gilles, Christine
Roelens, Kristien
Keygnaert, Ines
Current care for victims of sexual violence and future sexual assault care centres in Belgium: the perspective of victims
title Current care for victims of sexual violence and future sexual assault care centres in Belgium: the perspective of victims
title_full Current care for victims of sexual violence and future sexual assault care centres in Belgium: the perspective of victims
title_fullStr Current care for victims of sexual violence and future sexual assault care centres in Belgium: the perspective of victims
title_full_unstemmed Current care for victims of sexual violence and future sexual assault care centres in Belgium: the perspective of victims
title_short Current care for victims of sexual violence and future sexual assault care centres in Belgium: the perspective of victims
title_sort current care for victims of sexual violence and future sexual assault care centres in belgium: the perspective of victims
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6598354/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31248413
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12914-019-0207-5
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