Military-related sexual assault in Canada: a cross-sectional survey.

Military-related sexual assault in Canada: a cross-sectional survey. CMAJ Open. 2017 Jun 22;5(2):E496-E507 Authors: Watkins K, Bennett R, Zamorski MA, Richer I Abstract BACKGROUND: Most research on military-related sexual assault is based on the United States military and has important limitations, such as low response rates. We sought to estimate the lifetime prevalence of sexual assault, assess its relation to military service and identify the circumstances, correlates and associations with mental disorders of military-related sexual assault among Canadian military personnel. METHODS: We used the 2013 Canadian Forces Mental Health Survey, a cross-sectional representative survey of Canadian Regular Force personnel (n = 6696). The sample was weighted to be representative of the entire Canadian Armed Forces Regular Force population in 2012 (n = 67 776), as per Statistics Canada requirements. We assessed lifetime trauma exposure and past-year mental disorders using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. We defined lifetime military-related sexual assault as forced sexual activity or unwanted sexual touching that occurred on deployment or in another military workplace, or was perpetrated by Department of National Defence or Canadian Armed Forces personnel. We defined all other sexual assault as non-military-related sexual assault. RESULTS: Self-reported sexual assault was more prevalent among women (non-milita...
Source: cmaj - Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: CMAJ Open Source Type: research