ABSTRACT:
Child abuse and neglect is a social and public health problem, as well as children’s rights issue around the world and it leads to a wide range of adverse consequences to the children. Although child sexual abuse (CSA) is recognized as a serious violation of human well-being and of the law, no community has yet developed mechanisms that ensure that none of their children will be sexually abused. The purpose of this study is to assess the perception of doctoral scholars on mental health problems faced by victims of Child sexual abuse. In order to collect data a 25 item self-prepared questionnaire was developed and administered to doctoral scholars of Social sciences in a University. Descriptive research design is used for the study. The study is quantitative in nature and simple random sampling method is used to select the participants.The findings of the study revealed that majority of the respondents have an understanding that child sexual abuse affects the mental health of the victim, however finding also showed that some respondents lack knowledge on the issues of child sexual abuse. Authorities dealing students welfare activities in the Institution can provide awareness and sensitize child sexual abuse prevention strategies to the students by incorporating information about sexual abuse of children through campaigns and symposiums.