SAFEta has a webinar coming up next month, Demystifying Care of Patients with Mental Illness Following a Sexual Assault. The session will be held June 10th at 2pm ET. As with all of their offerings, it will be archived in case you can’t attend live. From the website:
Recent research suggests that up to 40% of patients who present for care following a sexual assault have some history of mental illness. But there has been limited academic work that examines unique considerations that may arise when caring for this patient population. How do we best provide medical care and forensic services for patients with mental illness in the acute setting following a reported sexual assault? How do we determine when it is, and is not, appropriate to offer a sexual assault medical forensic exam (SAMFE)? In this webinar, an interdisciplinary panel of SANEs and psychiatrists will highlight some of the challenges faced and questions that may arise, including:
– What does the research suggest about prevalence of various mental illness among victims of sexual assault? What is the relationship between experiencing trauma and developing symptoms of mental illness? What are the practice implications?
– What are some circumstances in which a patient’s mental illness may limit their capacity to consent an SAMFE? How should we perform capacity assessments in these patients?
– What signs and symptoms of mental illness may not preclude capacity, but otherwise interfere with the SAMFE? How can we conceptualize other factors of a patient’s presentation when assessing whether the SAMFE is appropriate?
– What are some approaches that can be used when providing a SAMFE to a patient with mental illness, to facilitate delivery of compassionate and safe care?
Register for the webinar here.
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Have you checked out the FHO store lately? You can find our newest research brief, Aging Bruises Based On Color, plus our original guide, Injury Following Consensual Sex. Both available now for electronic download.