Training, Guidelines, and Use of Anatomically Correct Dolls in the Investigation and Assessment of Children Who May Have Been Sexually Abused

In the past ten to fifteen years the general knowledge about sexual abuse and the number of persons abused has greatly increased. Many of the victims are young children who may have difficulty verbalizing the incident. As a result, various tool have been developed. One of these is anatomically correct dolls. The purpose of this research was to explore the use of anatomically correct dolls by child protection workers, law enforcement offices, and psychologists who work with sexually abused children. They were asked if they used the dolls, features of the dolls, training they had, and guidelines that were available to the organization. Findings indicated that the dolls are widely used in Minnesota and that about half of the users have had training. The majority of those responding indicated a desire for more training and for guidelines in the use of these dolls