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. 2020 Jul 2;20:1051. doi: 10.1186/s12889-020-09069-7

Table 15.

Reported Main Reason for not Seeking Help Among Children Aged 13–17 Years Who Ever Experienced Physical and/or Sexual Violence by Country

Haiti
Physical violence Sexual violence
Health Law Police Counseling Health Law Police Counseling
% % % % % % % %
Lack of awareness 7.35 6.63 6.05 15.14 10.16 10.03 7.59 21.33
Lack of access 1.30 0.93 0.70 0.84 1.27 0.94 1.27 0.67
Afraid of repercussions 2.61 5.47 5.36 1.92 7.62 9.40 11.71 5.00
Shame and stigma 0.24 0.70 0.47 0.24 2.22 2.19 2.85 0.67
Financial constraints 4.27 1.40 0.47 1.20 4.76 1.57 0.95 2.33
Lack of social support 2.84 2.56 3.03 4.57 2.86 3.76 4.75 7.00
Apathy 18.48 20.23 18.63 16.59 15.56 17.24 13.92 11.00
Perceived helplessness 21.68 22.91 25.15 20.79 20.00 21.32 21.52 16.33
Did not need or want services 27.96 27.91 31.20 30.65 25.40 21.63 25.00 28.00
Other 13.27 11.28 8.96 8.05 10.16 11.91 10.44 7.67
N 844 860 859 832 315 319 316 300

Abbreviations: CI Confidence Interval; na not asked; N = Number of observations

Notes: aEstimates are %

bData comes from a nationally representative sample of children aged 13–17 years from Violence Against Children Surveys. Samples from male and female respondents are combined due to low overall help seeking rates within subsamples. These questions were asked only for those who had ever experienced physical or sexual violence

cQuestions were categorized as follows: lack of awareness (did not know where to go); lack of access (too far to services); afraid of repercussions (afraid of causing more violence or getting in trouble, did not want abuser to get in trouble, perpetrator threatened me, was or felt threatened); shame and stigma (afraid of being mocked, embarrassed for self or family, felt ashamed); financial constraints (could not afford services, could not afford transport); lack of social support (afraid of being abandoned, dependent on perpetrator, no one to help me); apathy (did not think it was a problem); perceived helplessness (felt it was useless); did not need or want services; and other reasons