NCJ Number
218000
Journal
Criminal Justice Policy Review Volume: 18 Issue: 1 Dated: March 2007 Pages: 81-94
Date Published
March 2007
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This study examined barriers that arise when sexual assault victim advocates work with health care professionals and mental health workers.
Abstract
Study findings suggest that victim advocates confront a number of obstacles in their efforts to help sexual assault victims and the barriers are specific to the occupational group with which the workers are collaborating. When collaborating with healthcare providers, victim advocates face issues of geographical isolation, overstepping boundaries, subcultural barriers, and communication problems. When working with mental health workers, advocates confront issues regarding role ambiguity, inappropriate referrals, funding-related problems, and a misunderstanding of sexual assault. Victim assistance officials work to ensure that victims can overcome the negative consequences of victimization. In performing these activities, they collaborate with a number of professionals from many fields. In this study, crisis workers were asked to address problems they had collaborating with various groups; these groups included law enforcement, criminal justice professionals, such as judges and prosecutors, healthcare professionals, mental health professionals, victim or witness programs, and Department of Social Services. Study participants consisted of 44 crisis center workers. References