Evaluation of Incest Cases: 4-Years Retrospective Study

ABSTRACT

Incest is specific type of sexual abuse. The aim of this study was to evaluate the sociodemographic data and examination findings of cases referred to our hospital as forensic court cases of incest, and to measure the effect on mental health disorders of the nature of the sexual abuse. Retrospective examination was made of the records of 40 cases of incest victims. Evaluation was made of the age, gender, incident suffered, the perpetrator, form of abuse, examination findings, and mental status. The cases comprised 36 girls and 4 boys. Without penetration sexual abuse was determined in 25 cases and with penetration sexual abuse in 15 cases. At least one mental health disorder was determined in 20 of the cases of simple sexual abuse and in 11 of the major sexual abuse type cases. The most frequently seen mental health disorder was post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in 21 cases. Mental health disorders were determined in 77.5% of the incest cases in this study, at a greater rate 80% in cases of “without penetration sexual abuse” than in cases of “with penetration sexual abuse” 74.33%. Therefore, all cases of incest must be followed up carefully without differentiation of without or with penetration abuse.

KEYWORDS:

• Incest
• abuse
• child sexual abuse
• mental health

Disclosure of Interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

Ethical Standards and Informed Consent

Approval for the study was granted by the Non-Clinical Research Ethics Committee of Inonu University Scientific Research and Publications Ethics Committee for Healthcare Sciences (decision no: 2017/16-11, dated: 01.08.2017).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Osman Celbis

Osman Celbis works as a Professor at the Forensic Medicine Department of the Faculty of Medicine, Inonu University, and as the Group President of the Malatya Forensic Medicine Institute.

İsmail Altın

İsmail Altın works as a Research Assistant in the Forensic Medicine Department of İnönü University.

Nusret Ayaz

Nusret Ayaz works as a Forensic Medicine Specialist at Ömer Halisdemir Training and Research Hospital.

Turgay Börk

Turgay Börk works as an assistant professor at the Forensic Medicine Department of Fırat University.

Serdar Karatoprak

Serdar Karatoprak works as a Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Specialist at Elazığ Mental Health Hospital.