What Helps Children Tell? A Qualitative Meta-Analysis of Child Sexual Abuse Disclosure

dc.contributor.authorBrennan, E., & McElvaney, R.
dc.date.accessioned2021-07-19T16:32:20Z
dc.date.available2021-07-19T16:32:20Z
dc.date.issued2020
dc.description.abstractThe increasing use of qualitative methodologies to explore experiences of child sexual abuse (CSA) disclosure has led to the need to synthesise these findings. Recent reviews have tended to focus on the barriers to disclosure more than the facilitators or to conflate findings from studies of adults and studies of children and adolescents. This paper focuses on a qualitative meta-analysis of studies conducted in the past 20 years (1998–2018) that addresses the question of what helps children disclose experiences of CSA. An analysis of 20 studies that met the inclusion criteria suggests that six key themes are important facilitators of disclosure: access to someone you can trust; realising it's not normal; inability to cope with emotional distress; wanting something to be done about it; expecting to be believed; and being asked. These can be conceptualised as representing two key dynamics that help children tell: needing to tell (pressure cooker effect), and opportunity to tell. Professionals and carers can facilitate the process of disclosure through building trusting relationships with children, recognising their distress and initiating conversations with children about their wellbeing.en_US
dc.identifier.citationBrennan, E., & McElvaney, R. (2020). What helps children tell? A qualitative meta‐analysis of child sexual abuse disclosure. Child abuse review, 29(2), 97-113.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/car.2617?casa_token=sikdrhJsGUgAAAAA:kCHkHv3mCRg1TgwHRAb4Dwbpw02yfGKmFaMw3rFnmmGD6BbasFRNs0ylY6Q8iisKeW1lfLKYvICeVQ
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11212/5177
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherChild Abuse Reviewen_US
dc.subjectchild sexual abuseen_US
dc.subjectqualitative researchen_US
dc.subjectdisclosureen_US
dc.subjectInternational Resourcesen_US
dc.subjectUnited Kingdomen_US
dc.titleWhat Helps Children Tell? A Qualitative Meta-Analysis of Child Sexual Abuse Disclosureen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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