Sexual Boundary Violations

Sexual boundary violations are defined broadly to encompass any behaviour that transgresses someone's personal sexual boundaries, including sexual remarks, inappropriate touching, and exploitation of power imbalances. The dataset included 1957 confirmed sexual violence medical records. When the same rumours about a professional recur with a new group of clients, this pattern itself signals a likely ongoing problem rather than isolated incidents. Sexual violence was framed as a public health and safety concern in South Africa, especially for women and children. A client's mental health diagnosis may cause professionals or managers to discount a report of transgressive behaviour, a form of diagnostic stigma. The study used healthcare-based records from two specialised Thuthuzela Care Centres rather than population surveillance. The study examined confirmed reported sexual violence cases in Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality and Amathole District before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.