@article{ref1,
title="The impact of COVID19 pandemic and government enforced lockdowns on levels of attendance and context of sexual assaults reported at Saint Marys Sexual Assault Referral Centre",
journal="Journal of forensic and legal medicine",
year="2023",
author="Majeed-Ariss, Rabiya and Smith, Debbie M. and Mohamed, Laila and Wood, Lauren and White, Catherine",
volume="97",
number="",
pages="e102550-e102550",
abstract="Globally, government enforced lockdowns were one measure introduced to reduce the transmission of COVID-19. The impact of these social movement restrictions on victims of sexual assault and their access of sexual assault services needed clarity. This study aimed to understand the impact of COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns on: Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARC) attendance; characteristics of clients; characteristics of alleged perpetrators and nature of sexual assaults. Routinely collected data from the Saint Mary's SARC in the North West of England over two financial years, April 2019-March 2020 (pre-COVID-19) and April 2020-March 2021 (during COVID-19), were analysed. Compared to the pre COVID-19 year, monthly SARC attendance for children and adults decreased during national lockdowns and increased as restrictions lifted. Ethnicity of clients was significantly different during COVID-19 with more South Asian adults and more bi-racial children attending. Attendance of adults aged over 57 years also significantly increased during COVID-19. A significant increase in adults meeting alleged perpetrators online and a significant decrease in alleged perpetrators being a sex worker client were also identified. Finally, a significant increase in not-recorded data for health characteristics of adult and child clients was noted. While this study has illuminated some changes in the vulnerability profile of clients attending SARC during COVID-19 and its associated lockdowns, it has also highlighted shortcomings in changes to usual care introduced in the challenging and changing context of a global pandemic. These findings in parallel usefully recommend areas in need of service improvement.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1752-928X",
doi="10.1016/j.jflm.2023.102550",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jflm.2023.102550"
}