Prevalence of Child Abuse and its Long-Term Psychological Consequences among Female Students of Medical Faculties

Introduction Recently there is increasing attention regarding psychological consequences of child abuse all over the world and particularly in Arab world. Aim to examine prevalence of child abuse and its long term psychological consequences in adulthood among female University students attending medical faculties at El-Fayoum University. Method 837 female students from four different medical faculties at El-Fayoum University, namely faculty of Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing and Dentistry. They answered two questionnaires including, Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) and Psychological Problem Scale (PPS) in addition to socio demographic data sheet. Results From all studied sample, 11.84% of them reported that they have a child abuse experience. Participants rated physical neglect domain 49.73% as the highest domain of child abuse followed by emotional neglect 47.11%, and physical and emotional abuse (40.28%, 40.26% respectively). Meanwhile, the lowest domain rated was sexual abuse 33.05. While 53.5% of participants reported psychological problems in form of low self-esteem, impulsivity and post traumatic stress. Results also revealed statistically significant differences in the level of abuse and psychological problems in relation to students' ages, family monthly income, number of siblings and their parents' educational levels. Conclusion Despite the lower frequency of child abuse experiences in comparison with other studies, but higher frequency of long term psychological consequences, it needs the early diagnosis and early detection in addition protective educational interventions which could have critical roles in diminishing the prevalence and harmful long term psychological consequences of child abuse experience.