Although the impact of child sexual abuse (CSA) is well documented in the international literature, little is known about the critical points of recovery across the life course for survivors of institutional CSA. The aim of this study was to identify critical points, or events across the life course that may increase, or decrease, a survivor’s vulnerability to the complex traumatization of institutional CSA (ICSA). The sample consisted of two hundred and forty-eight witness statements extracted from the 56 publicly available case studies presented to the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse during 2013–2016 (Commonwealth of Australia, 2017). A content analysis and thematic coding of the statements identified seven main themes in the witness statements (Gender, Organization, Triggers, Trauma, Mental Health, Intervention and Compensation), that appeared to be critical events across the life course. The themes were transformed into variables for further analysis using SPSS. Significant Likelihood Ratios were found between associations with the organization where the abuse occurred and between triggers and breastfeeding/sensory, breast feeding/childcare, emotional and physical distress, and mental health (p < 0.01). Significant associations were also found between receiving compensation for the CSA and triggers, trauma, breast feeding-sensory and childcare (p < 0.05) and gender and breast feeding (p < 0.05). Overall, the findings showed that triggers can be random across the life course occurring mainly through indirect association, or in situations that evoke memories of the CSA, and that receiving compensation can assist survivors in their recovery journey. The findings also indicate the need for health care professionals to be aware of the critical points in a CSA survivor’s recovery and how triggers may impact on their mental welling throughout the life course.

尽管儿童性虐待 (CSA) 的影响在国际文献中有详细记录，但对于机构性 CSA 幸存者在整个生命过程中恢复的关键点知之甚少。本研究的目的是确定生命过程中可能增加或减少幸存者对机构 CSA (ICSA) 复杂创伤的脆弱性的关键点或事件。样本包括 248 份证人陈述，这些证人陈述摘自 2013 年至 2016 年期间提交给澳大利亚皇家委员会的 56 个公开案例研究，以调查对儿童性虐待的机构反应（澳大利亚联邦，2017 年）。对陈述的内容分析和主题编码确定了证人陈述中的七个主要主题（性别、组织、触发因素、创伤、心理健康、干预和补偿），这似乎是整个生命过程中的关键事件。使用 SPSS 将主题转换为变量以供进一步分析。在与发生虐待的组织的关联之间以及在触发因素与母乳喂养/感觉、母乳喂养/儿童保育、情绪和身体痛苦以及心理健康之间发现了显着的似然比。p < 0.01)。在接受 CSA 补偿与触发因素、创伤、母乳喂养感觉和儿童保育 ( p < 0.05) 以及性别和母乳喂养 ( p < 0.05) 之间也发现了显着关联。总体而言，研究结果表明，触发因素在整个生命过程中可能是随机的，主要通过间接关联发生，或者在唤起 CSA 记忆的情况下发生，并且接受补偿可以帮助幸存者康复。调查结果还表明，医疗保健专业人员需要了解 CSA 幸存者康复的关键点，以及触发因素如何影响他们整个生命过程中的心理健康。