The main objective of the study is to investigate whether raped adolescent women suffer from sexual problems and pelvic floor problems after rape. Secondary objective is to discover potential factors that could contribute to the development of…
ID
Source
Brief title
Condition
- Sexual dysfunctions, disturbances and gender identity disorders
Synonym
Research involving
Sponsors and support
Intervention
Outcome measures
Primary outcome
The main parameters of outcome, at which raped adolescents will be compared
with non-victimized women, are sexual problems, functioning of the pelvic
floor, and general psychological functioning.
Secondary outcome
Other variables that will be assessed as descriptive statistics, are level of
education, age, living situation, religion, sexual orientation and sexual
behaviour (masturbation, kissing, cuddling...)
Moreover, rape characteristics that are already known at the psychotraumacentre
(use of penetration, prior positive experience with sex etc.) will be used for
descriptive purposes.
Background summary
In the population of adult women, women who were raped suffer more from sexual
problems than women who have not been raped. Studies on sexual problems after
rape in the at-risk population of adolescent women are lacking.
It is hypothesized that adolescent women who were raped suffer more from sexual
problems than their non-victimized counterparts; this may be related to
functioning of the pelvic floor.
Study objective
The main objective of the study is to investigate whether raped adolescent
women suffer from sexual problems and pelvic floor problems after rape.
Secondary objective is to discover potential factors that could contribute to
the development of sexual problems after rape.
Study design
The proposed study will be a questionnaire study. It will be a historical
cohort study in which a group of raped adolescents, who came to the
Psychotraumacentre for help after rape, will be compared with non-victimized
adolescents. Later, individual in-depth interviews will be held with a
selection of raped women.
Study burden and risks
We try to minimize the emotional impact that the study might have on the rape
victims, by using non-invasive terminology in the information letter and in the
questionnaire, such as for instance sexual assault instead of rape.
Moreover, potentialy traumatizing questions concerning explicit rape
characteristics (such as whether the rape was with or without use of
penetration, whether the rape was the first experience with sex or not, etc.)
will not be asked again, as these descriptives are already collected during
admission at the psychotraumacentre.
The questionnaires can be completed in the participant*s home environment; they
do not have to come to the Psychotrauma Centre. The sub-sample of 20-25
patients however, who are going to participate in the qualitative study, will
be requested to come to the Psychotrauma Centre once for an in-depth interview.
In case the questionnaire might trigger some unexpected emotional reaction in
the participant, they are invited to contact the Psychotrauma Centre for help.
This accounts for treatment of recurring reminders of the trauma and/or for
sexual problems.
As the main hypothesis is that rape has high potential to cause sexual
problems, it is of importance to use this particular group of adolescent rape
victims as our study group. It is the only way to gain insight into the
existence of sexual problems in this at-risk population of adolescent rape
victims.
Lundlaan 6
3584 EA Utrecht
NL
Lundlaan 6
3584 EA Utrecht
NL
Listed location countries
Age
Inclusion criteria
The main focus is on (former) patients who have been raped during adolescence (when they were between 12 and 25 years old). However, for ethical reasons (questions about sexuality), only adolescent women who reached the age of 18 years and more will be included in the study.
Exclusion criteria
Participants with a low level of intelligence (those attending special education) will not be included.;In order to create mutually exclusive groups (rape vs. non-victimized), participants in the non-victimized population are carefully screened for the presence of a history of sexual violence, and those who have been raped will be included in the rape group for analysis.
Design
Recruitment
Followed up by the following (possibly more current) registration
No registrations found.
Other (possibly less up-to-date) registrations in this register
No registrations found.
In other registers
| Register | ID |
|---|---|
| CCMO | NL37672.041.11 |