Abstract:

Sexual assault and rape remain a huge problem in South Africa. However, only a few studies have investigated the association of demographic features and characteristics of sexual assault on the victims. The prevalence of rape in women globally is 7.2%, and in Sub-Saharan Africa 3 (21%). The objective was to determine the sexual assault characteristics and the relationship between the sexual assault characteristics and the socio-demographics of patients who presented for counselling. A retrospective, cross-sectional study was undertaken by reviewing 501 patient files who presented to a secondary-level hospital. A data capture sheet was used to collect information. The analysis included descriptive statistics and Chi-square test. The mean age was 21.5 ± 12.3 years. The women that presented to the hospital were black (92.4%), single (95.4%), unemployed (83.8%), and had a school education (27.6%). Only 4% of the participants were males. Fifty-eight percent of the participants reported that sexual assault had taken place between a Friday and a Sunday, between 18.00 to 05.59 hours. Women older than 20 years were three times more susceptible to sexual assault at night (p = 0.00). Young women were sexually assaulted more frequently at the perpetrator’s place (p = 0.01), and at party venues or in cars (p = 0.01). Health workers play a big role through preventive, educative, and curative measures. Health talks in educational institutes and public areas should be enforced. Safety and security officials should consider the identified risk factors for sexual assault and targeted interventions.

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