[The nursing experience of caring for a sexual assault victim]

The more advancements in technology, the more temptations there are for teenagers on the Internet. Despite satisfying the fancies of juveniles, the Internet predisposes them to many kinds of danger. In this article, a seventeen-year-old girl met a net pal on the Internet, went out with him out of curiosity, and was sexual assaulted. The Roy's adaptation model was applied to the victim. Further, all data were collected by observation and conversation in the emergency room, during routine outpatient follow-up and through phone conversations from April, 27, 2006 to June, 1, 2006. Sleep pattern disturbance, situational low self-esteem, impaired social interaction, and Rape-trauma syndrome were diagnosed after nursing assessment. In accordance with these diagnoses, individualized nursing implementation was performed, including encouraging her to express herself, listening to her patiently, and providing her with support as well as social welfare resources. Finally, the victim was assisted not only to overcome the dark shadow of her assault but to develop a positive attitude and set a new goal through the cooperation of her family, our medical group, and herself. This nursing experience may provide some helpful information for us to share in caring for such cases.