CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 80Sexual Assault and Victimization StudiesIntimate Partner and Family ViolenceChild Abuse and Trauma

Service Utilization and Help Seeking in a National Sample of Female Rape Victims

Open access
Amstadter, Ananda B., McCauley, Jenna L., Ruggiero, Kenneth J., Resnick, Heidi S., Kilpatrick, Dean G.·2008·Psychiatric Services
DOI 10.1176/appi.ps.59.12.1450PMC PMC2735844
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Many women with mental health problems do not seek help. Despite substantial research on predictors of help seeking, little is known about factors associated with help seeking in at-risk populations (for example, rape victims). This study examined various forms of help seeking for emotional problems in relation to key variables in a national sample of female rape victims. METHODS: Telephone interviews were conducted with a representative sample of 3,001 women (aged 18 to 76 years). All interviews were conducted between January 23, 2006, and June 26, 2006. Those endorsing a lifetime history of rape were included in the analyses presented here (N=556). Demographic characteristics, rape history, rape characteristics, psychopathology, and substance abuse were assessed. Help seeking was assessed by asking whether participants ever sought help for emotional problems, and if so, what types of services were sought (services provided through a medical professional, religious figure, or mental health professional). RESULTS: Help seeking was endorsed by 60% of the sample. The final multivariable model showed that ever seeking help was associated with being white (OR=2.61), being married (OR=.42), and having posttraumatic stress disorder (OR=3.45). Specific forms of help seeking revealed unique predictor sets. CONCLUSIONS: Although lifetime history of help seeking among rape victims was high, 40% of respondents had never sought help for emotional problems. Odds of help seeking were generally increased by the presence of a mental disorder. The findings suggest that some respondents may have sought help from general medical professionals or religious figures for emotional problems related to being raped. Education and training regarding rape and associated disorders should be available to other professionals to support provision of care. Public policy should be strengthened regarding professionals' service provision and should include reimbursement for mental health services so victims do not have to pay for services.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1176/ps.2008.59.12.1450

Cites

3 of 3 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Only a fraction of survivors presents to the healthcare system for care following SA/IPV.

    “Despite the ongoing presence of SA/IPV, only a fraction of survivors presents to the healthcare system for care following SA/IPV.”

    From Telemedicine and virtual healthcare for survivors of sexual assault and intimate partner violence: A qualitative study (2024) · cites this paper as [6]

    The Results report that 38% of the sampled female rape victims had sought help from a medical doctor, supporting the point that only some sought medical help. But the Methods measure whether they had ever contacted a professional for emotional problems; it does not establish presentation for care following an assault, and the sample does not cover IPV survivors generally. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 26

  1. [1]Narrow WE Regier DA Rae DS Use of services by persons with mental and addictive disorders: findings from the National Institute of Mental Health Epidemiologic Catchment Area Program Archives of General Psychiatry 1993 50 95 107 8381266
  2. [2]Golding JM Stein JA Siegel JM Sexual assault history and use of health and mental health services American Journal of Community Psychology 1988 16 625 644 3218635
  3. [3]Kessler RC Zhao S Kats SJ Past-year use of outpatient services for psychiatric problems in the National Comorbidity Survey American Journal of Psychiatry 1999 156 115 123 9892306
  4. [5]Koenen KC Goodwin R Struening E Posttraumatic stress disorder and treatment seeking in a national screening sample J Trauma Stress 2003 16 5 16 12602647
  5. [6]Ullman SE Brecklin LR Sexual assault history, PTSD, and mental health service seeking in a national sample of women Journal of Community Psychology 2002 3 261 279
  6. [7]Kimerling R Calhoun KS Somatic symptoms, social support, and treatment seeking among sexual assault victims Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 1994 62 333 340 8201071
  7. [11]Kessler RC Sonnega A Bromet E Posttraumatic stress disorder in the National Comorbidity Survey Archives of General Psychiatry 1995 52 1048 1060 7492257
  8. [12]Kilpatrick DG Acierno R Resnick HS A 2-year longitudinal analysis of the relationship between violent assault and substance abuse in women Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 1997 65 834 847 9337502
  9. [13]Kilpatrick DG Acierno R Schnurr PP Risk factors for adolescent substance abuse and dependence: Data from a national sample Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 2000 68 19 30 10710837
  10. [15]Filipas HH Ullman SE Social reactions to sexual assault victims from various support sources Violence and Victims 2001 16 673 692 11863065
  11. [16]Starzynski LL Ullman SE Filipas HH Correlates of women's sexual assault disclosure to informal and formal support sources Violence and Victims 2005 20 417 432 16250409
  12. [18]Golding JM Siegel JM Sorenson SB Social support sources following sexual assault Journal of Community Psychology 1989 17 92 107
  13. [19]Lewis SF Resnick HS Ruggiero KJ Assault, psychiatric diagnoses, and sociodemographic variables in relation to help-seeking behavior in a national sample of women Journal of Traumatic Stress 2005 18 97 105 16281201
  14. [20]American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 1994 Author Washington, D.C. Fourth Edition
  15. [21]Acierno R Resnick H Kilpatrick DG Risk factors for rape, physical assault, and posttraumatic stress disorder in women: Examination of differential multivariate relationships Journal of Anxiety Disorders 1999 13 541 563 10688523
  16. [22]Ruggiero KJ Smith DW Hanson RF Is disclosure of childhood rape associated with mental health outcome? Results from the National Women's Study Child Maltreatment 2004 9 62 77 14870998
  17. [24]Koenen KC Goodwin R Struening E PTSD and treatment seeking in a national screening sample Journal of Traumatic Stress 2003 16 5 16 12602647
  18. [25]Stockdale SE Tang L Zhang L The effects of health sector market factors and vulnerable group membership on access to alcohol, drug, and mental health care Health Services Research 2007 42 1020 1041 17489902 PMC1955264
  19. [26]Elhai JD North TC Frueh BC Health Service Use Predictors Among Trauma Survivors: A Critical Review Psychological Services 2005 2 3 19
  20. [27]Newman MG Clayton L Zuellig A The relationship of childhood sexual abuse and depression with somatic symptoms and medical utilization Psychological Medicine 2000 30 1063 1077 12027043
  21. [28]Kimerling R Clum GA Wolfe J Relationships among trauma exposure, chronic posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, and self-reported health in women: Replication and extension Journal of Traumatic Stress 2000 13 115 128 10761178
  22. [29]Burnam MA Stein JA Golding JM Sexual assault and mental disorders in a community population Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 1988 56 843 850 3264558
  23. [30]Abbey A BeShears R Clinton-Sherrod AM Similarities and differences in women's sexual assault experiences based on tactics used by perpetrator Psychology of Women Quarterly 2004 28 323 332 PMC4527559 26257466
  24. [31]Testa M Livingston JA Vanzile-Tamsen C The role of women's substance use in vulnerability to forcible and incapacitated rape Journal of Studies on Alcohol 2003 64 756 764 14743937
  25. [32]Amstadter AB McCart M Ruggiero KJ Psychosocial interventions for adults with crime-related PTSD Professional Psychology: Research and Practice In Press
  26. [33]Kilpatrick DG Amstadter AB Resnick HS Rape related PTSD: issues and interventions Psychiatric Times In Press

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Amstadter, A. B., McCauley, J. L., Ruggiero, K. J., Resnick, H. S., & Kilpatrick, D. G.
Affiliations
Medical University of South Carolina (US)
ORCID
Venue
Psychiatric Services
Publisher
American Psychiatric Association Publishing
Published
2008-12
Volume
59
Issue
12
Pages
1450-1457
ISSN
  • 0022-1597 (ISSN-L)
  • 1075-2730
  • 1557-9700
DOI
10.1176/appi.ps.59.12.1450
PMC
PMC2735844
OpenAlex
W2113786070
Cited by
80
References
3
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 3
FWCI
9.69
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Psychiatric Services (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
National Institute of Mental Health (T32MH018869)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Sexual Assault and Victimization Studies
  • Social Sciences › Health › Intimate Partner and Family Violence
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
Keywords
help-seeking, rape victims, sexual assault, post-traumatic stress disorder, mental health service utilization, emotional problems, help-seeking barriers, marital status, substance abuse, mental illness, medical professionals, religious figures
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Female, Humans, Interviews as Topic, Mental Health Services, Middle Aged, Patient Acceptance of Health Care, Rape, Regression Analysis, United States, Crime Victims, Young Adult

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review