Sexual violence against minors is a major public health issue, with profound
psychological, physical and social repercussions. However, its care remains
insufficient, hindered by resistance, beliefs and a lack of professional
training. Our research explores the socio-representational systems mobilized by
health and social actors to understand this violence and guide their
interventions. It is based on a previous study (Gallardo et al., in progress)
which demonstrates that, thinking about the care of sexual violence against
minors, means mobilizing different systems of representations, including
conceptions of childhood, family, perpetrator and the perceived role of
professionals.
Through 41 semi-structured interviews conducted with psychologists, social
workers, doctors and nurses, we analyze the influence of social knowledge,
norms and dominant ideologies on the recognition of abuse and institutional
response. The results highlight the impact of adult- child power dynamics
and gender-based violence on care, emphasizing that professionals carry
personal experiences, professional and social knowledge, and operate
within a normative framework structured by dominant values and ideologies.
This study underscores the need to integrate a psychosocial approach into
the professionals training to reduce barriers to disclosure, prevent
secondary victimization and improve support and protection for victims.