conducted a study in 1987 of the reported incidence of child sexual abuse in Northern Ireland. The incidence rate of established cases of child sexual abuse was 0.9 per 1000 children under the age of 17 years. Further analysis of all the cases of sexual abuse (suspected, alleged and established) and an estimation of the potential under-ascertainment indicated that the actual rate was between 0.9 per 1000 and 1.85 per 1000 children. Data obtained from a detailed structured questionnaire on each sexually abused child was analysed. The results are presented in relation to the child, age and sex; the abuse, type and duration; the abuser, sex, age and relationship to the child; and outcome factors, initial psychological sequelae, physical signs and symptoms, and social sequelae.
KEY WORDS: Child sexual abuse Incidence Gender analysis Psychological sequelae Perpetrators Northern Ireland n the early 1980s the regional department of Child Psy-I chiatry, Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children) in common with other centres in the United Kingdom, became aware of a marked increase in the number of referrals of children reported as having been sexually abused. The severity of the subsequent psychological disturbances of the children and the resultant chaos in the family required an inordinate amount of time both in initial management and in later treatment.
It became obvious that specialized multidisciplinary services would be required in the community in order to reduce the trauma to the child and the family. Knowledge of the size and the nature of the problem was essential for the planning of such services. A record of the number of sexually abused children was not available as the child abuse registers did not The survey was a collaborative research project 'Child Sexual Abuse in Northern Ireland' 1990 carried out by M.T. Kennedy and M.K.C. Manwell of the Department of Child Psychiatry, Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, and