The role of betrayal of trust in child sexual exploitation victims

I am a Forensic Psychology Master student from Maastricht University (The Netherlands) and I am currently working under the supervision of Dr. Carol Ireland (Chartered Psychologist, Forensic Psychologist and Course Director on the MSc in Forensic Psychology, UCLAN). I am conducting research as a part of my master’s dissertation. If you would like to contact someone for further information, my details are as follows: María Atiénzar Prieto (email: m.atienzarprieto@student.maastrichtuniversity.nl), or alternatively, my supervisor Dr. Ireland (CAIreland@uclan.ac.uk). If you have any concerns about the research that you wish to raise with somebody who is independent of the research team, you can with the UCLan University Officer for Ethics (OfficerForEthics@uclan.ac.uk).

You are being invited to participate in this study, whose purpose is to explore people’s experiences of having been approached (or not) by an adult in a sexual manner whilst under the age of 16. I am also interested in your perceptions of interpersonal trust. Lastly, I would like to explore your current experiences regarding close relationships. If you could spare 20 minutes of your time to complete the following questionnaires, I would be very grateful. There are three questionnaires to complete. Please note that one questionnaire explores your experiences during childhood and adolescence, where some questions ask you about sexual experiences you may have had before the age of 16.

The questionnaires are completely anonymous, and all data collected in this study will be kept completely confidential. At no point will you be asked to record your name or to provide any identifiable detail. As the questionnaires are anonymous, please answer all the questions as honestly as possible.

You do not have to take part in this research. If you do decide that you want to participate, then you need to be aware that once you have submitted your completed questionnaires it will not be possible to withdraw from the research. All completed questionnaires will be stored electronically and securely by the researcher and will be used only for the purpose of this research. It is important to note that you DO NOT HAVE TO TAKE PART IN THIS STUDY and you have the RIGHT TO WITHDRAW from the research at any point up to the submission of the questionnaire. I regret that it is not possible to withdraw after submission, as you cannot be identified due to the anonymous nature of the questionnaire.

There is contact information at the end for both myself and my supervisor, so if you would like additional information about the study please feel free to contact us. There are also contact details for organisations that deal with victims of sexual abuse in case you are affected by any of the issues raised by this questionnaire.