Health professionals' experiences with older adults affected by the trauma of their childhood sexual abuse: a systematic review of text and expert opinion.

Abstract

Review Objectives The overall objective of this systematic review is to determine the best available narrative evidence related to the experiences of health professionals working with people who have survived into old age, and who are now experiencing problems or eliciting behaviour related to the past trauma of their childhood sexual abuse (CSA). The review will consider the experiences of health professionals working with older adults; with and without dementia, living in both community and institutional settings, who are suffering the effects of CSA trauma. Because the first hand experiences of health care professionals may have difficulty being disseminated beyond the care setting, the review will also consider the opinions, comments and conclusions of health care professional researchers who have studied or considered the experiences of health care professionals in the above settings. This latter group of researchers may also provide a voice for the aged persons themselves into this systematic review of text and opinion. The findings of the review will contribute towards the identification and management of elderly people who are experiencing problems related to the past trauma of their childhood sexual abuse. Review Questions The specific review question to be addressed is: What are the experiences of health professionals working with adults who have survived into old age, and who are now experiencing problems or eliciting behaviour related to the past trauma of childhood sexual abuse? Criteria for considering papers for this review The Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) database and Cochrane Library have been searched and no previous systematic reviews on this specific topic were identified as published or underway. A preliminary search of the literature uncovered almost nothing relevant to the focus of this review; elderly childhood sexual abuse survivors. In view of this, a narrative review of text and opinion was considered the most appropriate type of evidence to address the research question at this time. TRUNCATED AT 350 WORDS