Community perceptions of rape and child sexual abuse: a qualitative study in rural Tanzania

Abstract

BackgroundRape of women and children is recognized as a health and human rights issue in Tanzania and internationally. Exploration of the prevailing perceptions in rural areas is needed in order to expand the understanding of sexual violence in the diversity of Tanzania’s contexts. The aim of this study therefore was to explore and understand perceptions of rape of women and children at the community level in a rural district in Tanzania with the added objective of exploring those perceptions that may contribute to perpetuating and/or hindering the disclosure of rape incidences.MethodsA qualitative design was employed using focus group discussions with male and female community members including religious leaders, professionals, and other community members. The discussions centered on causes of rape, survivors of rape, help-seeking and reporting, and gathered suggestions on measures for improvement. Six focus group discussions (four of single gender and two of mixed gender) were conducted. The focus group discussions were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using manifest qualitative content analysis.ResultsThe participants perceived rape of women and children to be a frequent and hidden phenomenon. A number of factors were singled out as contributing to rape, such as erosion of social norms, globalization, poverty, vulnerability of children, alcohol/drug abuse and poor parental care. Participants perceived the need for educating the community to raise their knowledge of sexual violence and its consequences, and their roles as preventive agents.ConclusionsIn this rural context, social norms reinforce sexual violence against women and children, and hinder them from seeking help from support services. Addressing the identified challenges may promote help-seeking behavior and improve care of survivors of sexual violence, while changes in social and cultural norms are needed for the prevention of sexual violence.

Disclosure of physical, emotional and sexual child abuse, help-seeking and access to abuse response services in two South African Provinces

“…This finding is in line with a decrease of reported cases of maltreatment to the police since 2003 (South African Police Service, 2010), even though surveys suggest continuing high past-year prevalence rates of abuse (Artz et al, 2016;Meinck, Cluver, Boyes, & LoeningVoysey, 2016). Similar findings are also reported in Kenya, where village elders are perceived to be most effective in responding to child abuse reports (UNICEF, 2011); Sierra Leone, where structural barriers and poor training of child protection committees are reported (Wessells et al, 2012); and Tanzania, where distances, slow responses, and corruption of police and other service providers prevent victims from seeking help (Abeid et al, 2014). Within South Africa, qualitative research suggests that professional services are not designed to facilitate abuse disclosure and service access for children (Bray, Gooskens, Kahn, Moses, & Seekings, 2010).…”

Perception of the Community towards Child Sexual Abuse: A Case of Chawama Lusaka, Zambia

“…The thought that the experience would be known to the whole community was very unpleasant and was linked to avoiding their own internal shame. Similar findings were demonstrated in previous studies which showed that it was difficult for survivors to report or disclose abuse cases due to fear loss of their marriage as well as community and family reactions [9] [16] [17].…”

“…Women were afraid that once abuse was reported husbands would send their wives back to their parents and husbands were to be sent to jail for many years which consequently meant becoming single. Similar findings have been reported by [9]. This fear has the consequence of making affected person fear being rejected or avoided by others in the community.…”

Implementation of the redesigned Community Health Fund in the Dodoma region of Tanzania: A qualitative study of views from rural communities

“…For example, community members' scepticism about the CHF‐Iliyoboreshwa by associating it to some Masonic operations requires a solution that integrates sociocultural knowledge into the implementation of the scheme. It ought to be noted that this Masonic belief is not new in Tanzania and represents an aspect that needs further enquiry and could be related to acceptance or rejection of other interventions of a similar nature. In this regard, formative ethnographic studies might be valuable for programme implementation.…”