{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,2]],"date-time":"2026-10-02T14:40:23Z","timestamp":1790952023842,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":21,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,30]],"date-time":"2022-06-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1656547200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000002","name":"National Institutes of Health","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["R25TW011210"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R25TW011210"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000002","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"sec001\">\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Worldwide, more than 95 million children are sexually abused each year with children in sub-Saharan Africa experiencing sexual assault at higher rates than those in more developed areas. In Uganda, 20% of young people indicated that their sexual debut was non-consensual. The risk for transmission of HIV to children through Child Sexual Abuse is high because of greater mucosal tissue damage and the often repetitive nature of abuse. This contributes significantly to the burden of HIV in Uganda. Despite these risks, studies have shown gaps in active parental involvement in child sexual abuse prevention despite their being the primary protectors of children. Against this background we sought to explore parental understanding of childhood sexual abuse and prevention as a measure for HIV prevention in Rwampara District, South Western Uganda.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"sec002\">\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>A phenomenological study was carried out in four health centers that serve the communities of Rwampara district. A total of 25 (n = 25) parents or guardians of children aged 9\u201314 years were purposively selected to participate in the study. The participants were subjected to in-depth semi-structured interviews which were recorded, transcribed, and translated for thematic analysis.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"sec003\">\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Parents\u2019 understanding of child sexual abuse was limited to penetrative sex between a man and a child. Three of the parents interviewed reported to have had children who had been sexually abused while one of the parents had been abused when she was young. The children reported to have been abused were female and were between 3-14years. We also identified gaps in the sensitization of parents regarding home-based prevention of child sexual abuse and psychological support for the victims of abuse.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"sec004\">\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Our study shows that child sexual abuse exists in rural western Uganda. There remains a significant gap in the awareness of parents regarding the extent of sexual abuse, signs of sexual abuse, case handling, and psychological support for victims of sexual abuse. This significantly affects the capacity of parents as the primary protectors of children to identify and protect the children against the multiple forms of child sexual abuse.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0269786","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,30]],"date-time":"2022-06-30T13:35:06Z","timestamp":1656596106000},"page":"e0269786","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Exploring parental understanding of child sexual abuse and prevention as a measure for HIV prevention in Rwampara district"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Aloysious","family":"Kamukama","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6437-0663","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Rachel","family":"Luwaga","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6475-8011","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Rodrick","family":"Tugume","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Margaret","family":"Kanyemibwa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Betrace","family":"Birungi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Obed","family":"Ndyamuhika","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Diana","family":"Ampire","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Timothy","family":"Nduhukire","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3858-6444","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Deborah Lowell","family":"Shindell","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,30]]},"reference":[{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0269786.ref001","first-page":"170","article-title":"Characteristics of child sexual abuse in Zambia","volume":"42","author":"M Akani","year":"2015","journal-title":"Medical Journal of Zambia"},{"key":"pone.0269786.ref002","author":"UNICEF","year":"2014","journal-title":"Hidden in plain sight: A statistical analysis of violence against children"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0269786.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"469","DOI":"10.1007\/s00038-012-0426-1","article-title":"The current prevalence of child sexual abuse worldwide: a systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"58","author":"J Barth","year":"2013","journal-title":"International journal of public health"},{"key":"pone.0269786.ref004","author":"National Child Protection Working Group","year":"2018","journal-title":"Child Sexual Abuse: Enhancing Access to Justice"},{"issue":"12","key":"pone.0269786.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"536","DOI":"10.1016\/j.paed.2014.07.012","article-title":"Child sexual abuse: recognition and response when there is a suspicion or allegation","volume":"24","author":"K Borg","year":"2014","journal-title":"Paediatrics and Child Health"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0269786.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e0198866","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0198866","article-title":"Does a history of sexual and physical childhood abuse contribute to HIV infection risk in adulthood? A study among post-natal women in Harare, Zimbabwe","volume":"14","author":"S Shamu","year":"2019","journal-title":"PLoS one"},{"key":"pone.0269786.ref007","author":"UNAIDS","year":"2020","journal-title":"Global HIV & AIDS statistics\u2014Fact sheet"},{"key":"pone.0269786.ref008","author":"UNAIDS","year":"2020","journal-title":"Global AIDS Monitoring 2020, UNAIDS 2020 estimates and UNICEF Global Databases of nationally representative population-based surveys 2012\u20132019"},{"key":"pone.0269786.ref009","author":"Ministry of Health","year":"2019","journal-title":"Uganda Population-based HIV Impact Assessment (UPHIA) 2016\u20132017"},{"key":"pone.0269786.ref010","author":"UNAIDS","year":"2016","journal-title":"GlobalplanCountryfactsheet_uganda"},{"key":"pone.0269786.ref011","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.2147\/AHMT.S149416","article-title":"Addressing the dual health epidemics of HIV and sexual abuse among children and adolescents in Kenya: uptake of HIV counseling and post-exposure prophylaxis","volume":"9","author":"C Ajema","year":"2018","journal-title":"Adolescent health, medicine and therapeutics"},{"key":"pone.0269786.ref012","author":"MOH","year":"2018","journal-title":"NATIONAL-SEXUALITY-EDUCATION-FRAMEWORK"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0269786.ref013","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"96","DOI":"10.1177\/1077559517729479","article-title":"Child sexual abuse prevention opportunities: Parenting, programs, and the reduction of risk","volume":"23","author":"J Rudolph","year":"2018","journal-title":"Child maltreatment"},{"key":"pone.0269786.ref014","volume-title":"Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches","author":"JW Creswell","year":"2016"},{"key":"pone.0269786.ref015","author":"H Joffe","year":"2003","journal-title":"Content and thematic analysis"},{"key":"pone.0269786.ref016","article-title":"Parents\u2019 experiences and sexual topics discussed with adolescents in the Accra Metropolis, Ghana: a qualitative study","author":"EA Baku","year":"2018","journal-title":"Advances in Public Health"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0269786.ref017","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"432","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jana.2015.01.002","article-title":"Children seeking refuge: A review of the escalating humanitarian crisis of child sexual abuse and HIV\/AIDS in Latin America","volume":"26","author":"CP Thornton","year":"2015","journal-title":"Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0269786.ref018","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"318","DOI":"10.1017\/S1352465817000686","article-title":"Post-traumatic symptomatology and compulsions as potential mediators of the relation between child sexual abuse and auditory verbal hallucinations","volume":"46","author":"S. 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