Impacts of sexual abuse in childhood and adolescence: An integrative review

Abstract

This article identifies the impacts of sexual abuse in childhood and adolescence. We conducted an integrative literature review in September 2018 using the Virtual Health Library. A search was conducted using the following descrip-tors: Sexual Abuse of Children and Adolescents and Sexual Abuse or Child Development. The inclusion criteria were open access full-text original articles published between 2013 and September 2018 in Portuguese, English or Spanish. Sixteen eligible articles were selected after reading the titles and abstracts. The full texts of these articles were read and organized into a table. The studies show that sexual abuse in childhood and adolescence has lifelong psychological, physical, sexual and social impacts. The findings of this study can help alert health care professionals to the importance of investigating the signs and symptoms of sexual abuse given the multiple impacts of abuse on victims’ lives.