In Trinidad and Tobago, little data exists on child sexual abuse, although there are many anecdotal reports of high prevalence. The Breaking the Silence Gender and Community Empowerment Model is a multidisciplinary intervention to prevent and respond to child sexual abuse in Trinidad and Tobago. It is an innovative, gender-sensitive intervention that uses a community based action research methodology anchored in a national framework. Preliminary evaluation of the Breaking the Silence model shows increased knowledge of child sexual abuse, increased willingness to discuss child sexual abuse, and an impact that goes beyond the target communities. This model can be replicated in communities to prevent and respond to child sexual abuse and adapted to address other sensitive social issues in the Caribbean.
This article contributes to the still limited analysis of gender and sexuality in the exploration of HIV infection in the Caribbean. In Trinidad and Tobago, child sexual abuse was identified as a prevalent behavior. This motivated a gendered exploration of the sociocultural factors underlying child sexual abuse and the link with HIV. Using a qualitative action research methodology, researchers sought to understand the patterns of behavior, sociocultural and gendered meanings, and significance of child sexual abuse; to sensitize stakeholders to these issues; and to develop multidisciplinary community-based interventions and policies. This article reports on the analysis of data collected from the interventions carried out as part of the action research methodology, as well as a range of national and community-specific action research activities including ethnographic case studies, national stakeholders meetings, and a study of service providers. It provides a nuanced understanding of the meanings, underlying assumptions, perceptions, and taboos associated with child sexual abuse in Trinidad and Tobago, as well as new ways of understanding child sexual abuse in the Caribbean. Findings showed that the social and gender context for child sexual abuse involves several interconnecting factors located within a framework of gender ideologies and expressions, sexual expectations and behaviors, and social norms based on patriarchal values. These findings would be of significance for the prevention of child sexual abuse and the associated HIV risk in Trinidad and Tobago, and the management of victims and perpetrators of child sexual abuse.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.