Examination of the attitudes of health professionals towards women who are victims of sexual assault crime

Violence and sexual assault against women is one of the important problems that prevent the development of society. As a result of the sexual assault she is a victim of, she suffers psychological harm as well as physical harm. The most important reason for the psychological damage he experiences is the negative characterizations made by the society. Health professionals are one of the social units that women who are victims of sexual assault come into contact with during this process. The aim of this study is to investigation of attitudes of health professionals towards women victims of sexual assault crime. Relational screening model, one of the quantitative research methods, was used in the research. The research was conducted with data obtained from 450 randomly selected healthcare professionals working in hospitals in Istanbul in 2021. The "Illinois Rape Myths Acceptance Scale" and the "Honor Conception Attitude Scale towards Women" were used to collect data in the study. The collected data were evaluated according to some determined factors (variables such as gender, age, marital status, occupation, duration of experience, encountering a case of sexual assault, education about sexual crime/abuse). It was interpreted using the "t" test and "one-way analysis of variance" (Anova) in order to determine whether there was a significant difference between the groups. As a result of the study, it was seen that the attitudes of health professionals towards women who were victims of sexual assault crime were positive. It has been determined that the attitudes of health professionals towards women who are victims of sexual assault crime are affected by factors such as gender, age, occupation, previous encounter with a sexual assault case, and education about sexual crime/abuse. It has been determined that the attitudes of elderly health professionals, participants who are doctors, participants who have encountered sexual assault cases before, and participants who have received sexual crime/abuse training towards women who are victims of sexual assault crime are more positive.