Sexual abuse among Mozambican women at risk for HIV/AIDS infection: the temporal stability of self-report

Many researchers have expressed concern regarding the reliability and validity of retrospective self-reports of sexual abuse. This study aimed to quantify the frequency of self-reported sexual abuse among vulnerable Mozambican women and evaluate the temporal stability of self-report across assessments. Participants (N = 173) were patients at the gynecology outpatient clinic of a public central hospital in Mozambique who were referred for recruitment by gynecologists and completed measures of sexual abuse, assessed using six items from the National Women's Study survey. Women reported a frequency of sexual abuse ranging from 9.2% (third assessment) to 10.4% (initial assessment). Concerning the temporal stability of self-reports, the percentage of agreement was above 90% for all sexual abuse items, and general sexual victimization achieved almost perfect kappa values, κs =.93–1.00. This work has implications for the promotion of sexual health and the prevention of violence.