Suffering whether You Tell or Don’t Tell: Perceived Re-Victimization as a Barrier to Disclosing Child Sexual Abuse in Zimbabwe

ABSTRACT

Disclosing child sexual abuse (CSA) is a necessary first step to access the legal, health, and psycho-social services that survivors and their families need. However, disclosure rates are low: of young women who experienced CSA in Zimbabwe, only 9% disclosed the first incident. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore and describe perceived barriers to disclosing CSA in Zimbabwe. We conducted focus group discussions with children aged 10–14 years (n = 40) and their parents/caregivers aged 20–62 years (n = 40), participating in an intervention trial in Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe. We found that potential retaliation against survivors and their families is a major barrier to disclosing CSA. These retaliatory acts, which we refer to as “re-victimization,” arise from stigma or the victim feeling blamed or doubted and manifest through physical violence, emotional violence, and deprivation of family life and education. Our findings suggest that addressing social and cultural norms related to sex and strengthening legal protection for CSA survivors and their families could encourage CSA disclosure and could help end this violence. Our findings also highlight a need to increase children’s awareness of their rights and to create safe systems for disclosure of sexual abuse.

KEYWORDS:

• Sexual abuse disclosure
• children
• Zimbabwe
• child sexual abuse
• adolescent

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the study team in Zimbabwe and all the participants who shared their powerful perspectives.

Disclosure of interest

All authors, Obong’o, Patel, Cain, Kasese, Mupambireyi, Pichon, and Miller, declare that they have no conflicts to report.

Ethical standards and informed consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation [institutional and national] and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under the terms of GH000315.The findings and conclusions presented in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the funding agencies.

Notes on contributors

Christopher O. Obong’o

Christopher O. Obong’o, Ph.D., is a behavioral scientist and is currently Lead Product Manager and Regional MEL Specialist for east and southern Africa at PATH, Nairobi, Kenya.

Shilpa N. Patel

Shilpa N. Patel, Ph.D. M.P.H., is a Senior Epidemiologist at the Division of HIV/AIDS and Prevention, National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA.

Meagan Cain

Meagan Cain, M.P.H, is a Health Scientist and Gender-Based Violence Technical Lead at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Center for Global Health, Atlanta, GA.

Constance Kasese

Constance Kasese, MSc., is a project coordinator, Centre for Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS Research, Harare, Zimbabwe.

Zivai Mupambireyi

Zivai Mupambireyi, Ph.D., is a Social Scientist and is currently Project Lead Children and adolescent department, Center for Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS Research, Harare, Zimbabwe.

Zwashe Bangani

Zwashe Bangani, MSc., is a Public Health Specialist at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Harare, Zimbabwe.

Latrice C. Pichon

Latrice C. Pichon, PhD, MPH, CHES, is an Associate Professor in the Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences, School of Public Health at The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN.

Kim S. Miller

Kim S. Miller, Ph.D. is Senior Advisor for Youth Prevention at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Center for Global Health, Atlanta, GA