TY - JOUR
T1 - Child Sexual Abuse Studies in Arab Societies
T2 - A Systematic Review and Directions for Future Research
AU - Attrash-Najjar, Afnan
AU - Katz, Carmit
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2022.
PY - 2023/7
Y1 - 2023/7
N2 - Although child sexual abuse (CSA) is acknowledged as a worldwide social phenomenon, less is known about CSA within Arab societies. The current systematic literature review was designed to highlight the empirical knowledge on CSA in Arab societies. Guided by PRISMA principles, key databases were searched, with no time limit, for studies meeting the inclusion criteria. Fifty-seven studies were identified. The majority focused on the prevalence of CSA in various Arab societies around the world, with a wide range of rates reported. It is important to stress two main barriers addressed by the included studies. The first relates to the issue of taboo and the forbidden discussion of sexual content. The second is ethical, in which the researchers expressed their fear of creating emotional distress for their participants. A small group of studies examined parents’ perceptions of CSA and the need for parents’ involvement in the protection of their children. Another small group of studies focused on professionals’ perceptions and experiences in contending with CSA, as well as their distress, conflict, and urgent need for support and guidance. The conclusions from the systematic literature review emphasized the enormous challenge of conducting studies on CSA in Arab societies and the urgent need to advance this research while also including children and adult survivors, whose perceptions and experiences are currently understudied. Moreover, the discussion stresses the need to adopt an intersectionality paradigm in future studies to advance the improvement of CSA policy and practice.
AB - Although child sexual abuse (CSA) is acknowledged as a worldwide social phenomenon, less is known about CSA within Arab societies. The current systematic literature review was designed to highlight the empirical knowledge on CSA in Arab societies. Guided by PRISMA principles, key databases were searched, with no time limit, for studies meeting the inclusion criteria. Fifty-seven studies were identified. The majority focused on the prevalence of CSA in various Arab societies around the world, with a wide range of rates reported. It is important to stress two main barriers addressed by the included studies. The first relates to the issue of taboo and the forbidden discussion of sexual content. The second is ethical, in which the researchers expressed their fear of creating emotional distress for their participants. A small group of studies examined parents’ perceptions of CSA and the need for parents’ involvement in the protection of their children. Another small group of studies focused on professionals’ perceptions and experiences in contending with CSA, as well as their distress, conflict, and urgent need for support and guidance. The conclusions from the systematic literature review emphasized the enormous challenge of conducting studies on CSA in Arab societies and the urgent need to advance this research while also including children and adult survivors, whose perceptions and experiences are currently understudied. Moreover, the discussion stresses the need to adopt an intersectionality paradigm in future studies to advance the improvement of CSA policy and practice.
KW - Arab societies
KW - child sexual abuse
KW - culture
KW - intersectionality
KW - taboo
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85123307091&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/15248380211061773
DO - 10.1177/15248380211061773
M3 - ???researchoutput.researchoutputtypes.contributiontojournal.systematicreview???
C2 - 35044887
AN - SCOPUS:85123307091
SN - 1524-8380
VL - 24
SP - 1300
EP - 1324
JO - Trauma, Violence, and Abuse
JF - Trauma, Violence, and Abuse
IS - 3
ER -