The Current State and Improvement Strategies of Sexual Assault Victim Support Infrastructure and Services: from the Viewpoint of the Workers in the Counseling Centers and Residential Care Facilities

Abstract

This study aims to provide clinical and policy implications for the improvement of services and support infrastructure for sexual assault victims by analyzing current conditions and exploring effective improvement strategies. For this purpose, a focus group interview was conducted with workers in the agencies that offer support services to sexual assault victims. Several issues and problems were discovered in the support service infrastructure: Low level of perception on sexual assault among criminal justice officers, overlapping roles among different organizations due to lack of collaboration and communication among them, poor working condition of the workers, lack of support services that consider various different needs of the clients, insufficient case management and follow-up services, and inadequate medical service offerings. Based on the findings, some countermeasures were suggested for the improvement of the infrastructure. Improving the level of perception on sexual assault of officers, establishing a support system and designating a clear role for each type of service organizations and stakeholders, and increasing budget and personnel were presented as possible remedies. Furthermore, to improve the client service quality, specialization and diversification in the types of counseling services, rationalization of the sub-par quality level of current medical services, and provision of more systematic and longer-term on-going services were suggested.