Now Available: Handbook on Sensitive Practice for Health Care Practitioners

Lessons from Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse

Posted: Thursday 9th April 2009 06:29

A new resource - the Handbook on Sensitive Practice for Health Care Practitioners: Lessons from Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse (2nd edition) has been published by the Public Health Agency of Canada (thorough the National Clearinghouse on Family Violence). The Handbook is available free of charge  for download online, or can be ordered as a hard copy:

The Handbook contains information which is important for all health care providers and students to use with all patients and was developed for practitioners who do not have specialized training in mental health. Research suggests that at least 20% of adult women and between 5 and 10% of adult men have a history of childhood sexual abuse. Combined with the increasing evidence that violence affects health in a wide variety of ways far beyond mental health, health care practitioners are likely to work, often unknowingly, with adult survivors on a regular basis.

This handbook describes the principles of Sensitive Practice and offers guidelines to enhance survivors' sense of safety during health care encounters, in the interest of maximizing the benefits of consultation and treatment. The Handbook was developed through a collaborative research project involving over 400 adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse, mental health clinicians and health care professionals from 10 disciplines, from across Canada.