Evaluation of drawings of children victims of sexual abuse

Objective: The assessment of child sexual abuse is a difficult task for those involved in this process. The aim of our study is to enable children who are victims of sexual abuse to express themselves through drawing during the examination and to investigate whether helpful data can be obtained for the forensic process by evaluating the qualities of the event through drawings. Material and Method: The study was conducted using a pro-retrospective method. Cases of alleged sexual abuse who were examined at Düzce University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Forensic Medicine and ÇİM between January 1, 2016 and June 30, 2024 and who agreed to draw were included in our study. The subjects were given the instructions in the literature: 'Draw a Person, Draw Yourself, Draw Your Family, Draw Something That Makes You Happy, Draw Something That Makes You Unhappy, Draw a Suspect'. The drawings of children made by the subjects on A4 paper using a pencil were analyzed. The drawings were examined according to the criteria defined in the literature by two researchers, one of whom was a forensic medicine specialist and the other a research assistant, who were actively working in the field of child drawings and had training and experience in child drawings. Results: In our study, 6 drawings of 122 patients were evaluated and it was observed that there was a statistically significant difference in pupil omission, head without body drawing and body omission in the suspect compared to other figure drawings. In our study, there was a statistically significant difference in the first figure drawing in children with post-event psychiatric admission, in children with a diagnosis of specific learning disability or mental retardation, in children with a lower level of drawing than expected for their age, and in children whose parents were not married, in the case of drawing a missing family member, There was no statistically significant relationship between the other parameters and the suspect and other figures and age, gender, family structure, type and frequency of abuse, history of past abuse, presence or absence of consent, presence or absence of genital findings, presence or absence of psychopathology. Conclusion: Children's drawings are affected by many factors such as age, gender, education level, intelligence level, mental state before and after the incident, stress during forensic interview and examination, family dynamics, sociocultural environment, type, duration, number, relationship with the suspect, drawing characteristics, the way of holding the pen, the tip of the pen used, media exposure, and the interpretation of the evaluator. It is thought that children's drawings can be used as an auxiliary tool in forensic interviews in cases of sexual abuse by relaxing the child and obtaining better information from the child, without the prejudice that a single indicator confirms sexual abuse.