Methodological issues in child sexual abuse research

Research has only recently documented the negative effects of child sexual abuse. Investigators attempting to validate empirically the stress responses of children to sexual abuse are confronted with many methodological issues, including those related to measurement, sample selection, use of comparison subjects, and legal and ethical considerations. This article discusses methodological issues that need to be considered when designing and implementing studies on the impact of child sexual abuse. Suggestions are made for strengthening research designs, and several studies that have incorporated some of these suggestions are reviewed. Recommendations are made for areas that nurse researchers may want to explore in the future, such as parental and sibling response to sexual victimization, characteristics of children that may ameliorate the effects of sexual abuse, and children's responses to examination of the genitalia.