Accompanying Research Helpline “Sexual Abuse“ of the Independent Commissioner for Child Sexual Abuse Issues

Sexual Abuse, Victims and Survivors, Telephone Helpline, Accompanying Research, Follow-up Process, Participation

01/2015-12/2023

Triggered by the so-called "abuse scandal" a social and political process started in 2010 with the aim to improve the situation of victims of sexual abuse and to protect children and adolescents from sexual violence. From the beginning, the expertise of victims was seen as an important basis for the development of innovations innovations and they were therefore invited to participate actively in the process. One possibility for participation is the Telephone Helpline Sexual Abuse of the Independent Commissioner for Child Sexual Abuse Issues (UBSKM). At this nationwide, free of charge and anonymous contact point, victims, relatives and specialists canfind an attentive ear and get advice and support on the one hand, and on the other by sharing their experiences and concerns they can  participate in the follow-up process.

The accompanying research project aims at providing a scientifically sound description of the use of the telephone helpline, at ensuring the quality of the service and at underpinning the political work of the Independent Commissioner.

Description of the Project

The data is collected anonymously during the telephone conversation with the consent of the caller. The telephone calls are divided into standardized parts, in which certain issues are enquired (using also the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire) and free conversation parts, in which there is enough room for the caller's concerns. The information is anonymously documented by experts on the telephone in a survey grid specially developed for this project. In addition to clickable predefined response categories, the grid also contains free text fields for writing down quotations and descriptions. The data is analyzed and evaluated in quantitative and qualitative terms by our project team.

After a pilot phase, in which the survey grid was optimized with regard to practicability and content, the main survey phase has been running since mid-January 2016. Since then, more than 3,500 calls have been received, from which 2,301 evaluable data records could be obtained (as of July 2017). Evaluation results have so far been made available to the Independent Commissioner for Child Sexual Abuse Issues in the form of two interim reports.

Independent Commissioner for Child Sexual Abuse Issues (UBSKM)