Experiences and views of general practitioners concerning sexually-abused children

This study aimed to determine the types of clinical experience that general practitioners have had with sexually-abused children, and what practitioners perceive as requirements in the detection and management of sexually-abused children. Subjects were 279 South Australian non-specialist medical practitioners, selected by quasi-random procedures, of whom 76% responded to a postal questionnaire. The number of sexually-abused children ever seen by the 193 doctors who responded averaged 1.2; 54% of the respondents had not seen such cases. In addition to the request for a record of experiences with sexually-abused children, the questionnaire included categories on: sources of the respondents' information on sexually-abused children; the respondents' perceived need for more information; an assessment of the adequacy of current treatment services; their attitudes to the legal obligation to report suspected cases to statutory authorities; and the main sources of their hesitation to report. Considerable concern evidently exists among family doctors about their ability to detect and manage cases of sexually-abused children. The reasons for their low reporting rates are discussed in terms of both medical education and of the operation of local treatment services for sexually-abused children.