Prevalence, patterns, and prevention of sexual violence in children: A systematic review

Tri N Hatala, Ira Nurmala, Diah Indriani

Abstract

Any act that involves the use of physical force, coercion, or psychological influence to coerce someone into performing, witnessing, or participating in sexual interactions for the sake of profit, retaliation, or other reasons is considered sexual violence. This study aimed to systematically review sexual violence prevention practices in different countries. Scientific sources and literature were reviewed based on the PRISMA standard criteria. This systematic review used four databases; PubMed, ProQuest, science direct, Springer link and SAGE. Literature study on publications from January 2017 to December 2023.The results of our study shows that in global knowledge on sexual violence is limited. The prevalence of sexual violence can be seen from the gender and perpetrators. On average, the victims are girls and the perpetrators are those closest to the victims. Patterns of sexual violence can be seen from the time and place of the incident, the time of the incident during the day and the place at home. Four prevention strategies for sexual violence were identified from this review These include   universal prevention programs, the use of information and communications technologies (ICT), sexual education, specific sexual violence education. Sexual violence education to both parents and children can help prevent sexual violence against children.

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References

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