Thesis (M.A. (Social Work)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / Survivors of child sexual abuse experience a lot but various challenges in their everyday lives. The overall aim of the study was to describe the experiences of male adult survivors of child sexual abuse at Ga-Matlala, Limpopo Province. The study objectives were to identify types of child sexual abuse cases at Ga- Matlala uperpetrated prior 1994; to determine how adult male survivors of child sexual abuse handle their life problems; to describe the social impact of child sexual abuse on male adult survivors; and to recommend appropriate professional intervention to male adult survivors of child sexual abuse. The study utilised descriptive research design. The data was collected through semi-structured face-to-face interviews from three (3) survivors of child sexual abuse who were sexually abused prior 1994 who are residing at Ga-Matlala area. The sample consisted of survivors of child sexual abuse drawn from the database of Bakone Tribal Council compiled and administered pre 1994. A thematic analysis method was selected. Thematic analysis organises and describes data set in detail. The data was analysed in eight steps.Ethical considerations such as voluntary participation, permission to conduct the study, anonymity, confidentiality and no harm to respondents were considered.The researcher found that two survivors indicated to be having abilities to resolve their personal problems while one participant has indicated to be having problems in resolving his personal problems. All three survivors indicated to be engaged in an intimate relationships. All there survivors indicated to have had experienced child sexual abuse more than once and they also indicated to have had experienced more than one type of sexual abuse. Two participants out of three survivors had not reported of imitating what they experienced while one has adopted the lifestyle but he is not doing it with children like it was done to him. All survivors indicated to have forgiven their perpetrators. All of survivors indicated that their childhood experience had a negative impact in their childhood lives and it still has a negative influence in their adult life. All three survivors indicated to have not accessed professional assistance in their childhood even during their participation in the study they have not yet accessed professional intervention towards their past traumatic experience. However, all three survivors acknowledged the fact that post traumatic intervention is important to their personal growth with regard to finding closure, gaining confidence and finding coping strategies that will be helpful in facing their personal problems with an open mind and positivity of finding solutions without tracing their childhood past into it. The researcher concluded that all the participants of the study had experienced different kinds or types of child sexual abuse and it has negatively impacted them. Being involved in an intimate relationship was not difficult for the survivors as all of them were engaged in intimate relationships. All three survivors need to access professional help for them to overcome the impact of their past child sexual abuse experience. There is a huge difference/gap regarding the previous findings and the current findings mainly because most of the previous studies were European based than African Based (South Africa) and it was also showing a gap between European based Theories and African based theories when dealing with child sexual abuse. The main recommendation that the researcher had was to motivate the survivors to participate in the process of accessing professional help to enable them to deal with their current lives without tracing everything back to their childhood.

In rendering child care protection services to adolescents in the Marshite area as a social worker in the Department of Social Development, the researcher recognised that an increased number of adolescents are sexually abused also by persons known to them. The sexual abuses are not reported because adolescents and caregivers lacked adequate knowledge of what is sexual abuse and services provided by social workers available for them. This became evident from the intervention programme statistics which indicated that adolescents and caregivers were not aware of other sexually abusive behaviours than penetration. The aim of the research was to identify circumstances that contribute to adolescents’ vulnerability towards sexual abuse in a rural area in order to enable social workers to empower adolescents and caregivers on how to prevent sexual abuse. Also to develop and evaluate programmes and services rendered to sexually abused adolescents and their families. Purposive voluntary sampling was used to select adolescents participating in empowerment programmes of social workers in the Marshite area. The research reveals that children in the Marshite area lack sufficient knowledge on child sexual abuse. The circumstances within which the adolescents live in the Marshite area make the adolescents victims of sexual abuse. Looking at the services that social workers render to the sexually abused adolescents and their caregivers in te Marshite area, there is a need for skilled and knowledgeable forensic social workers who can develop empowerment programmes and render relevant services to sexually abused adolescents and their families in the Marshite community. / MSW (Forensic Practice), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Sexual abuse of children is a major problem in South Africa. There is an increasing number of orphans in urban but also in rural areas of children and orphans who are sexually abused. The researcher experienced in her daily work as social worker in the rural area of the Oliver Tambo district Municipality children and orphans who are sexually abused. The aim of this study is to identify the risks factors contributing to the vulnerability of orphans towards sexual abuse. Purposive sampling was conducted among social workers who have experience with orphans who were sexually abused in the Ngqeleni and Port St Johns areas of the Oliver Tambo District in the Eastern Cape. Semi-structured interviews were conducted by the researcher with the social workers as well as document analysis from the files of orphans who were sexually abused from the caseloads of these social workers. From the data received it has been confirmed that family members where orphans grew up fail often to accept and to treat them like their own children, especially when they are not sharing the same clan name with the children. Orphans do not always get full support and protection like other children in the family. This situation makes it even more difficult for them to talk freely about their challenges. Lack of knowledge also plays a role to these children as they fail to report to government departments and community leaders. Looking at the vulnerability of orphans in the Oliver Tambo District, there is a definite need for social workers to empower orphans and their caregivers with knowledge in preventing orphans from being sexually abused. There is also a need for forensic social workers to help with the assessment of orphans who are sexually abused in order to assure more successful prosecutions of alleged perpetrators. / MSW (Forensic Practice), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

In rendering child care protection services to adolescents in the Marshite area as a social worker in the Department of Social Development, the researcher recognised that an increased number of adolescents are sexually abused also by persons known to them. The sexual abuses are not reported because adolescents and caregivers lacked adequate knowledge of what is sexual abuse and services provided by social workers available for them. This became evident from the intervention programme statistics which indicated that adolescents and caregivers were not aware of other sexually abusive behaviours than penetration. The aim of the research was to identify circumstances that contribute to adolescents’ vulnerability towards sexual abuse in a rural area in order to enable social workers to empower adolescents and caregivers on how to prevent sexual abuse. Also to develop and evaluate programmes and services rendered to sexually abused adolescents and their families. Purposive voluntary sampling was used to select adolescents participating in empowerment programmes of social workers in the Marshite area. The research reveals that children in the Marshite area lack sufficient knowledge on child sexual abuse. The circumstances within which the adolescents live in the Marshite area make the adolescents victims of sexual abuse. Looking at the services that social workers render to the sexually abused adolescents and their caregivers in te Marshite area, there is a need for skilled and knowledgeable forensic social workers who can develop empowerment programmes and render relevant services to sexually abused adolescents and their families in the Marshite community. / MSW (Forensic Practice), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Sexual abuse of children is a major problem in South Africa. There is an increasing number of orphans in urban but also in rural areas of children and orphans who are sexually abused. The researcher experienced in her daily work as social worker in the rural area of the Oliver Tambo district Municipality children and orphans who are sexually abused. The aim of this study is to identify the risks factors contributing to the vulnerability of orphans towards sexual abuse. Purposive sampling was conducted among social workers who have experience with orphans who were sexually abused in the Ngqeleni and Port St Johns areas of the Oliver Tambo District in the Eastern Cape. Semi-structured interviews were conducted by the researcher with the social workers as well as document analysis from the files of orphans who were sexually abused from the caseloads of these social workers. From the data received it has been confirmed that family members where orphans grew up fail often to accept and to treat them like their own children, especially when they are not sharing the same clan name with the children. Orphans do not always get full support and protection like other children in the family. This situation makes it even more difficult for them to talk freely about their challenges. Lack of knowledge also plays a role to these children as they fail to report to government departments and community leaders. Looking at the vulnerability of orphans in the Oliver Tambo District, there is a definite need for social workers to empower orphans and their caregivers with knowledge in preventing orphans from being sexually abused. There is also a need for forensic social workers to help with the assessment of orphans who are sexually abused in order to assure more successful prosecutions of alleged perpetrators. / MSW (Forensic Practice), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and intimate partner violence (IPV) are both crimes with high prevalence rates which frequently have females as their victims. Survivors of each are frequently found in psychotherapy, yet to date few studies have examined the interaction between each form of gender violence. The present study looked at several ways in which CSA and IPV interact, including assessing prevalence rates of CSA among female IPV survivors, examining somatic difficulties found among female CSA survivors who are also survivors of IPV vs. female non-CSA IPV survivor controls, and by exploring body image and sexual difficulties found among female CSA survivors who are also survivors of IPV vs. female non-CSA IPV survivor controls. Participants were a sample of 140 women with a history of domestic violence recruited from a variety of settings including community mental health facilities and correctional facilities. Results showed that all three forms of childhood maltreatment studied (CSA, childhood physical abuse (CPA), and childhood witnessing of IPV) were elevated among survivors of IPV; rates of CSA were 51.4% within our sample of female survivors of IPV, rates of CPA were 52.1%, and rates of childhood witnessing of IPV were 67.1% within the same sample. Among various somatic complaints studied (sleep difficulties, depression, eating difficulties, and weight problems), female CSA survivors of IPV evidenced higher rates of childhood sleep difficulties, childhood and adulthood depression, and adulthood eating difficulties than did female non-CSA IPV survivor controls. While participants overall evidenced high rates of problems with body image and sexuality, there were no significant differences between female CSA survivors of IPV and female non-CSA IPV survivor controls within this study. Possible reasons underlying the latter negative findings were discussed. Both groups showed higher rates of body image and sexual dysfunction than would be predicted for normative participants, though given the absence of a normal control group in the present study it is difficult to discern how much higher these rates might be.

The study sought to examine the influence of differences in perception of the family environment on adjustment following child sexual abuse. Eighty-eight children who had been sexually abused and their caregivers completed self-report measures regarding the Relationship Dimension of the Family Environment Scale (FES). Adjustment was measured by child report of posttraumatic stress and sexual concerns on the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSC-C) and depression on the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI). Parent's report of adjustment was based on endorsement of internalizing and externalizing behaviors on the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Analysis revealed elevated expressiveness for parents and children, higher conflict and lower cohesion reported by adolescents (12- 18), and lower conflict endorsed by children (6-11) as compared to the normative sample. Differences were noted in adolescent perception of conflict as compared to their primary caregiver; however, adolescent discrepancy scores of the family environment did not predict outcome. Caregivers reported higher internalizing and externalizing behaviors for the sample as compared to the normative sample.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not adults who were child incest participants exhibited greater personality adjustment problems than adults who were not child incest participants. The sample consisted of undergraduate students of The University of Arizona who had volunteered to participate in the study. Each student completed the Personal Orientation Inventory as a measure of personality adjustments, and a questionnaire adapted from the David Finkelhor Questionnaire, which placed each respondent into one of four groups. Group 1 respondents reported having had a childhood sexual experience with another child (a friend or a sibling). Group 2 respondents reported having had a childhood sexual experience with an adult who was not a family member. Group 3 respondents, the child incest participants, reported having had a childhood sexual experience with an adult who was a family member. Group 4 respondents reported having had no childhood sexual experiences. The data was analyzed in two 4 x 2 factorial analyses of variance. The P.O.I. scale scores and subscale scores were the dependent measures of personality adjustment. The independent measures of the first analysis were group membership and gender; of the second analysis, group membership and age. No statistically significant differences among the groups were found on any of the eight P.O.I. scale scores. There were statistically significant effects due to gender on three of the eight P.O.I. scales, females tending to score higher than males. The one exception to that trend was on the Time Competent scale, on which the males of Group 3 scored higher than the females of Group 3. Although that reversal trend occurred, there were no statistically significant interaction effects between group membership and gender. There were statistically significant effects due to age on two of the eight P.O.I. scales, older persons tending to score higher than younger persons. The one exception to this trend was on the Spontaneity subscale, on which the younger persons of Group 4 scored higher than the older persons. This reversal did result in a statistically significant interaction effect between group membership and age. The results of this study, although limited in scope, indicate that not all adults who were child incest participants exhibit greater personality adjustment problems than adults who were not child incest participants.

The present study of all cases of substantiated child sexual abuse received by a local social service agency in 1981 examined (a) the relationship of early contact between perpetrator and victim to such mitigating factors as attachment and intergenerational boundaries (b) the impact of the incest taboo on the severity of abuse and (c) a variety of descriptive variables to identify various characteristics of incestuous families and the services they recieve. Chi square analyses failed to identify differences between groups in the severity of sexual abuse. However, the sample was not similar to those reported in the literature--containing a high percentage of unemployment, prior marriages, criminal history and prior referrals for child abuse, suggesting that this sample of perpetrators did differ significantly from the general population and from the populations which have been reported in other studies.

No description available.