Incidence of depressive symptoms among sexually abused children in Kenya

Abstract

BackgroundChildren who experience sexual abuse undergo various negative psychosocial outcomes such as depressive symptoms. Unfortunately, not many studies have been conducted on the incidence of depressive symptoms among sexually abused children in Kenya. This study sought to ascertain the incidence of depressive symptoms among children who have experienced sexual abuse in Kenya.MethodsThis was a longitudinal study design. It was conducted at Kenyatta National Teaching and Referral Hospital and Nairobi Women’s Hospitals in Kenya. One hundred and ninety-one children who had experienced sexual abuse and their parents/legal guardians were invited to participate in the study. The study administered the Becks Depression Inventory and the Child Depression Inventory to the children.ResultsThe incidence of depressive symptoms after 1 month of sexual abuse revealed that amongst children who were below 16 years old, 14.6% had minimal-mild depressive symptoms while 85.4% had moderate-severe depressive symptoms. In comparison, children who were 16 years or older, 6.4% had minimal-mild depressive symptoms while 93.6% had moderate-severe depressive symptoms. Children below 16 years old whose parents were separated were found to have depressive symptoms (p < 0.001) as well as those who were presented early for medical care (p < 0.004), while children aged 16 years and above who were abused by strangers were more likely to have depressive symptoms (p < 0.024) and those who were not attending school (p < 0.002).ConclusionSexual abuse of children is world-wide and the Kenyan situation is comparable. Being the victim of sexual abuse as a child has major psychological and emotional sequlae which need to be addressed in Kenya. Children who experience sexual abuse have very high incidence of developing depressive symptoms. All the sexually abused children studied suffered from depressive symptoms and a large majority suffered from major depressive symptoms that should be promptly and effectively addressed to ameliorate psychological suffering among children.

A systematic review of short and medium-term mental health outcomes in young people following sexual assault

“…Depressive symptomology appeared to vary between studies. Four of the five studies measuring this outcome [20][21][22]25] showed similar patterns of symptoms decreasing over time.…”

“…Mouilso et al [23] and Herbert et al [21] scored three stars. Elklit et al [19], Feiring et al [20], Mutavi et al 2017 [24], Mutavi et al 2018 [25], and Oshodi et al [26] scored four stars. Darves-Bornoz et al [18], Rothbaum et al [27] and Khadr et al [22] scored five stars.…”

“…Khadr et al [22] found a statistically significant decrease in symptom score over their 4-5 month follow-up period (female participants only compared). Mutavi et al 2018 [25] did not state symptom scores but rather number of participants in each symptom category (minimal, mild, moderate or severe symptoms). Over their 1 year follow-up period, they found that for both those under 16 (Children's Depression Inventory used), and those over 16 (Becks Depression Inventory used), the trend was for a reduction in symptom scores.…”

“…Regarding the time of the initial assessment, only Mouilso et al [23] prospectively assessed participants prior to the sexual assault. The other nine assessed participants at various time-frames post assault -within one week (Herbert et al [21]), 12 days (Rothbaum et al [27]), two weeks (Oshodi et al [26]), four weeks (Darves-Barnoz et al [18], Mutavi et al, 2017 [24], Mutavi et al, 2018 (majority of participants within one month) [25]), six weeks (Elklit et al [19], Khadr et al [22]) or within a variable timeframe (46% of the sample within 8-10 weeks post-assault (Feiring et al [20]).…”

“…No study had an exposed cohort that was truly representative of the average sexual assault victim in the community; nine studies [18][19][20][21][22][24][25][26][27] only selected those participants who had sought help from a specialist centre, or come to the attention of authorities. Mouilso et al [23] recruited participants from a US university, who received both course credit and monetary compensation.…”