| Summary: | The sexual abuse schemas of 97 counsellors were compared on the bases of experience (general
counselling, specific sexual abuse counselling, and combined counselling), current client population
(working with sexually abused clients or not), and whether they had their own history of childhood sexual
abuse. Three inferential measures on a questionnaire were used to evaluate the dimensions of schematic
complexity: organization, breadth, and extremity. They were, in order: two versions (one explicit and one
disguised) of an "intake" vignette describing an adult woman with a history of childhood sexual abuse; a
100 list of adjectives to describe a sexually abused client; and 20 statements concerning sexual abuse
effects. The primary finding was a strong relationship on the dimension of organization: counsellors were
significantly more likely to identify sexual abuse as a treatment issue in response to an explicit sexual
abuse vignette version than to a disguised version. There was no experience effect but post hoc analyses
found significant results on likelihood of identifying sexual abuse in response to the disguised version when
counsellors' client focus and personal childhood history of sexual abuse were considered. Current sexual
abuse counsellors were more likely to identify it than non sexual abuse counsellors, and counsellors who
had themselves been sexually abused as children were more likely to identify sexual abuse than were
counsellors who had not. No differences were found on measures of breadth or extremity. Post hoc
analyses suggested a tendency for counsellors of high and low experience to respond differently to a list of
adjectives and a list of sexual abuse effects but these results did not reach significance. === Education, Faculty of === Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of === Graduate
|
|---|
