Survey of Practitioners Providing Therapy for Survivors of Sexual Abuse/Assault in Aotearoa/New Zealand.

Abstract

Providing therapy for survivors of sexual abuse is a complex area of therapeutic practice. In order to identify the processes that mental health practitioners in Aotearoa/New Zealand use to identify mental injury due to sexual abuse, and their approaches to treatment, a nationwide survey was undertaken. Six hundred and ninety-five surveys were mailed to practitioners. One hundred and sixty-six questionnaires were returned, a response rate of 24%. Both qualitative and quantitative questions were included, seeking information on practitioner demographic characteristics, as well as their practice modalities as sexual abuse/assault counsellors. Emerging themes are presented and discussed briefly. Information generated via the survey has provided a strong local contribution to the development of best-practice guidelines for counselling survivors of sexual abuse in Aotearoa/New Zealand. These were released in June 2008. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of New Zealand Journal of Counselling is the property of New Zealand Association of Counsellors and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)