The Child Sexual Abuse Experience and the Child Sexual Abuse Medical Examination: Knowing What Correlations Exist.

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to assess what children experience when they are sexually abused and determine if these experiences correlate with emotional distress and anogenital findings identified during medical examinations for sexual abuse. There were 269 children examined medically for sexual abuse and for whom the adult bringing the child to the medical examination reported that the child had made a statement alleging sexual abuse. Differences in what these children reportedly had stated about their sexual abuse was quantified on a questionnaire by the adults who brought the children. After the examination, children rated how distressed they felt having their bodies examined. The physician or nurse practitioner evaluating the child provided the second measure of emotional distress using the Genital Examination Distress Scale (GEDS) to rate behaviors observed during the anogenital component of the medical examination. The anogenital findings were classified as negative, inconclusive, or posi...