Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Parents whom adolescents disclose sexual abuse face both a personal traumatic experience, and the need to support their child who is going through a grueling period and needs them. Many quantitative studies exploring the psychological impact of disclosure on parents have been conducted, but few have used qualitative methods.
We conducted semi structured interviews with parents whose children disclosed sexual abuse during their psychiatric care in Paris and analyzed these interviews using a phenomenological framework interpretative phenomenological analysis.
This study analyzed 13 semi structured interviews of 9 mothers and 4 fathers whose children were then aged 14 to 17 years. Qualitative analysis uncovered three themes: 1 Parents: alerts and search for support; 2 Between parents and adolescents: a disruption in relationships linked to the disclosure and its legal consequences; 3 Disclosure at the family level: the possible reactivation of a traumatic past and the search for a new equilibrium.
Considering the parental experience is essential in caring for adolescent patients after they disclose sexual abuse. The need for parental or family psychological support should be systematically assessed. The psychological consequences of these traumas are well known and documented today [ 4 ]: individuals subjected to Child Sexual Abuse CSA are at higher risk of developing depressive disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenic disorders, or bipolar disorders, as well as of attempting suicide [ 5 — 7 ].
The prevalence of a history of experiencing CSA in persons seen for psychiatric care adult, adolescent, or child is higher than in the general population [ 8 ]. Moreover, the somatic consequences currently identified of a personal history of experiencing CSA include, for example, increased functional intestinal disorders and nonspecific chronic pain [ 9 ].
