Dental health from the perspective of childhood sexual abuse survivors

The purpose of the project is to develop knowledge and understanding of sexual abuse survivors' experiences and perceptions around their own dental health and their challenges regarding dental health habits. Previous studies show that dental treatment can be difficult for people who have been subjected to sexual abuse as a child. They may experience re-traumatization in dental health, which will increase risk of avoiding  dental visits, having poorer dental health as well as psychosocial challenges. The aims of the study are to seek more knowledge about ( i) how sexually abused  people experience and manage dental treatment (ii)  how sexual abuse survivors experience the dental situation and (iii) how oral health-related problems affect the lives of sexual abuse survivors
In a qualitative study it is planned to include 12 - 21 participants over the age of 18. The participants will be recruited from different support centers for sexual abuse. A wide variety of age, ethnicity, gender, types of abuse experienced, age of abuse, duration and frequency of the abuse, and geographical link. The participants will be interviewed by one of the researchers in the project. All interviews will be transcribed to text and analysed.