Building subsidies to identify signs of sexual abuse against children and adolescents

Abstract

Sexual abuse against children and adolescents is considered a serious public health problem. Any contact or interaction with a minor that includes touching, any type of sex or caressing is characterized as violence and most of these abuses take place at home and are carried out by family members. This violence is underreported, mainly because it occurs in homes and one of the difficulties encountered by health professionals who deal with situations of violence is the lack of language and concepts that combine medical knowledge with that of other areas, such as social and legal. In view of this perspective, the study sought to create subsidies that could help health and administrative professionals of a Family Health Unit to identify suspicious signs of this type of violence against this public, reporting tools, in addition to the reception of victims and the family. To achieve this objective, a booklet was developed with information about the sexual violence that children and adolescents are susceptible, warning signs and how to act in the face of violence, in addition, an easily accessible online page was created, via QR CODE, containing the educational booklet, social networks of public agencies for the protection of children and adolescents and the contacts necessary to make complaints. Training was also carried out with all the health and administrative professionals of the unit. There were 1337 accesses to the QR CODE and the page, indicating propagation of the material. Data on the increase in reports of sexual violence have not yet been obtained.