Children's disclosure of sexual abuse during early forensic psychiatric evaluation in Southern Taiwan.

Background/purpose: Many surveys of child sexual abuse (CSA) in Western countries focus on the victims' disclosures and their associated factors during forensic interviews, but similar data in Asian countries is scarce. We explored the disclosure rate of CSA allegations during forensic interviews in South Taiwan and the factors predicting such disclosure. We compared our findings with those of previous studies.

Methods: Data were collected from written forensic psychiatric reports of CSA victims who underwent early forensic psychiatric evaluation at two hospitals in Kaohsiung City from 2010 to 2015. All cases were divided into categories of full or nonfull disclosures. We identified the variables that distinguished between the two groups in bivariate analyses using the independent t test and the Chi-square test. Binary logistic regression analysis was done to determine whether those significant correlates in the bivariate analyses were independent predictors of full disclosure.

Results: Among the 55 cases, 32 (58%) were full disclosures. Older age at first interview (odds ratio=1.39), no diagnosis of mental retardation (odds ratio=0.04), and experiencing sexual abuse more than once (odds ratio=5.90) were positive factors independently related to the full disclosure of CSA allegations.

Conclusion: The rate of disclosure under the program was comparable to that of prior studies. This may suggest a role for early forensic psychiatric evaluation of children to promote disclosure of CSA allegations. We hope the findings may serve as a basis for future studies of CSA disclosure and associated factors in Taiwanese society.