Piloting Sexual Assault Care Centers in Belgium: Who do they reach and what care is offered?

Abstract

Background Care for victims of sexual violence is fragmented in Belgium. Therefore, sexual assault care centers (SACCs) were piloted in three cities from November 2017 onwards. The SACCs offer forensic, medical and acute psychological care through a forensic nurse, while vice inspectors perform an interrogation at the SACC for those wishing to report. The nurse coordinates the follow-up care and a psychologist provides mental health support. A quantitative prospective study was carried out assessing the characteristics of SACC patients, the sexual violence they experienced and the care received, in order to inform the national scale-up of the model. Methods Data on SACC patients was routinely collected in the electronic patient files by the SACC personnel between November 1st 2017 and October 31th 2018. Data was analyzed in SPSS. Results Within the first year SACCs were attended by 930 victims. Mean age was 24,5 years (SD = 12.8), and one third were minors. Eighty-eight percent of victims was female and 67% presented for rape. Fifty-seven percent of the assailants were known to the victim. Thirty-five percent of the victims self-referred to SACC, 41% were referred by the police, and 66% of victims attended services within 72 hours. Respectively 75%, 61%, 47% and 68% of victims received medical care, a forensic examination, psychological care and reported to the police. Conclusions Without big publicity the SACCs received a higher than expected number of victims. Expansion of the collaboration with police and targeted communication strategies should further increase the number of victims receiving appropriate care. Qualitative research assessing the acceptability of the SACC model will further inform the scale-up of the model. Key messages The quantitative study led to a better understanding of the population using the SACCs. The study allowed to improve the training of the staff members, adapt the SACC procedures before scale-up and define targeted service-promotion strategies.