NCJ Number
134551
Date Published
1991
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This paper describes the structure and operations of the Victim Care Service (VCS) (a program for victims of sexual assault) at the Boston City Hospital from the beginning of 1986 until February 1989.
Abstract
The VCS involves a multidisciplinary team approach to care. The program coordinator is a psychiatric nurse clinical specialist, and the other clinicians span the disciplines of medicine, nursing, and social work. The program consists of five phases. Phase I, program development, focuses on setting standards and training treatment providers in victim care. Phase II, acute intervention, is activated whenever a patient is identified as a victim of sexual assault. The care process is determined by the multidisciplinary team of experts. Phase III, followup, is an extension of phase II. All patients seen in phase II are given four supportive counseling sessions. Phase IV, ongoing therapy, operates on a referral basis because the hospital does not have the capacity to provide outpatient mental health services. Phase V, evaluation and research, involves ongoing quality assurance monitoring to ensure that the standards established in phase I are met. The five phases of the VCS are organized around six assumptions: there is a continuum of sexual victimization, sexual victimization occurs frequently, responses to sexual assault victims have often been based on myths and stereotypes, sexual assault produces a trauma, crisis intervention facilitates a positive resolution of the victimization experience, and sexual victimization is a multifaceted problem. 17 references