Institutional Child Abuse: The Role of Disclosure, Risk and Protective Factors in Understanding Trauma Responses

Abstract

The research examined negative impacts of and factors aiding recovery from institutional child abuse. It adopts a multi-study, multi-method approach to achieve this. The research comprised 10 institutional abuse victims, a Rapid Evidence Assessment of 28 institutional child abuse case reviews, and 384 adults reporting either institutional child abuse (n = 93), at home abuse (n = 191) or no abuse (n = 100). The location of participants was not recorded in order to protect anonymity. However, the child abuse reviews were all UK based. Multi-methods employing a qualitative study, Rapid Evidence Assessment and quantitative study of victims were included.
Qualitative analysis demonstrated a focus on negative impacts, and the importance of disclosure. Factors aiding recovery were discussed less than negative factors. Impacts of abuse were comparable across settings, with institutional abuse directly associated with PTSD symptoms, and resilience with reduced PTSD symptoms. There was an indirect effect of institutional abuse on PTSD symptoms mediated by personality dysfunction but not strength factors or resilience. The research highlights the importance of disclosure and concludes by integrating findings into a preliminary conceptual model, the Integrated Model of Institutional Child Abuse impacts (IMICA), to potentially support practice and future research.