Biography and expertise
Biography
Professor Lynne McPherson is the Chair, Out of Home Care Research and Deputy Director Centre for Children and Young People, Faculty of Health Southern Cross University. Lynne's program of research has focussed on out of home care: foster care / kinship care /residential care, drawing on participatory methodology. Lynne is interested in looking beyond ‘care’ to ameliorating the impact of adversity- therapeutic models of care. A range of projects over last 10 years-reflect that interest, including her current ARC Linkage Grant 2022-2024 Strengthening Connections and Relationships in Therapeutic Residential Care )
Lynne's work contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals
Prior to becoming an academic, Lynne spent more than 25 years as a senior social work manager and practice leader in child protection and the wider child, youth and family sector. She has undertaken roles as a practitioner, manager, training consultant and senior policy advisor. Lynne became a social work academic just over 15 years ago, initially based in Melbourne at La Trobe University. Lynne joined the School of Arts and Social Sciences at Southern Cross University in 2016 as an academic who is engaged in teaching and research.
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Highlights - Output
Journal article
Published 04/2025
Child & youth care forum, 54, 2, 515 - 544
Background
Global research has found that prevalence rates of child sexual abuse suggest that this is a significant ongoing public health concern. A recent Australian study, for example, revealed that more than three girls and almost one in five boys reported experiencing sexual abuse before the age of 18. Self-reported rates of abuse, however, far exceed official figures, suggesting that large numbers of children who experience sexual abuse do not come to the attention of relevant authorities. Whether and how those children have tried to tell their stories remains unclear.
Objective
The goal of the review was to explore scholarly literature to determine what was known about what enables or constrains children to disclose their experience of sexual abuse.
Method
A systematic scoping review was undertaken to better understand the current state of knowledge in the scholarly literature on child sexual abuse disclosure. Thirty-two scholarly publications were included for analysis following a rigorous process of sourcing articles from five databases and systematically screening them based on transparent inclusion and exclusion criteria. Ecological systems and trauma-informed theoretical paradigms underpinned an inductive thematic analysis of the included manuscripts.
Results
Three multi-dimensional themes were identified from the thirty-two publications. These themes were: factors enabling disclosure are multifaceted; barriers to disclosure include a complex interplay of individual, familial, contextual and cultural issues; and Indigenous victims and survivors, male survivors, and survivors with a minoritised cultural background may face additional barriers to disclosing their experiences of abuse.
Conclusions
The literature suggests that a greater understanding of the barriers to disclosures exists. Further research that supports a deeper understanding of the complex interplay of enablers and the barriers to disclosure across diverse populations is needed. In particular, future research should privilege the voices of victims and survivors of child sexual abuse, mobilising their lived experiences to co-create improved practice and policy.