Category: Sexual Assault

MNCASA is sponsoring a webinar on responding to false allegations of sexual assault, Monday, June 29th from 12-1:30 CDT. From the announcement: False reports of sexual assault are rare yet they attract significant attention from the media and influence public opinion about the prevalence of sexual violence. The webinar will explore this challenging issue from a number of perspectives, with the overall goal of providing tools that will help you respond effectively to difficult questions about victim credibility.

Okay, so this is one of the webinars I’ve been waiting for: IAFN is hosting a webinar on HIV PEP that should be stellar (if I wasn’t going to be flying home from California that day, I would already be registered for this one). It will be held July 2nd from 2-3:30 pm ET, and it is free, people. Free. No CEs, sadly, but good (much needed) content.

Topics to be covered during the webinar include incidence of post sexual assault HIV infection; the  role of  advocacy for HIV counseling and assistance for victims related to HIV; the role and responsibility of the SANE for HIV PEP; and an ‘algorithm’ approach for the programs to use for HIV PEP.

A couple highlights from day 1 of the SANE-SART meeting: John Clune‘s stellar talk on high profile media cases; Tara Henry and Andre Rosay’s research on unconscious victims (PDF) (I only got to stay for half–such good stuff, though); and Dr. Sharon Cooper’s examination of child exploitation.

[Callout Card from That’s Not Cool]

The Family Violence Prevention Fund has a relatively new page about sexting on their website, which in part discusses some of  the legal questions this activity raises. Sexting is essentially teens (often) sending text messages with sexual contact, and it seems like it’s received a flurry of media attention lately (you can check out major media outlet coverage here, here and here).

The San Diego District Attorney’s Office has recently published a new site about alcohol facilitated sexual assault. Know the Price, which focuses solely on the issue of rape by intoxication, is filled with local & national resources, information about prevention & bystander intervention, and best of all, video clips that could be great teaching tools for both professionals and the general public (warning: video begins playing automatically). While the legal info is California-specific, most of the message appears to be pretty generalizable.

I haven’t finished watching all the clips, but I must admit, I’m happy to see the topic find the light of day online. Not a whole lot out there on AFSA meant for the lay public…

It’s been a busy, but productive week for me. However, I am excited at the prospect of heading home tonight. And I’m particularly excited that I have only 1 trip scheduled over the next two weeks, and it’s an overnighter at that (Quad Cities anyone?). So postings will increase again beginning next week.

Over at the Sustainability site, it was a lighter week for us, too, but you’ll still find a few of our regular features, including:

• Our weekly Coordinator Q&A, this time with Tulsa coordinator Kathy Bell.
• A great run down on fundraising blogs, courtesy of Donor Power Blog
• A two-part article on building sustainable programs from the folks at the Community Driven Institute

Have a great weekend everyone!

I’m heading to Illinois next week to teach a SANE course (adolescent/adult), and I was grumbling (to my dogs because they are always sympathetic) about schlepping my supplemental materials with me on a plane (do you have any idea how huge the binder is?). And I have been doing my very best to reduce the amount of paper I generate and streamline my approach in general, so printing things out or making copies sounded unappealing, as well. Then it dawned on me: I have a whole site at my disposal to warehouse these items.

This week at the sustainability site, we talk nursing practice, employee evaluation, collaboration and tech tools. And as a bonus, a couple woodland creatures stop by to see us:

• Some tools for evaluating potential employees, from people who know these sorts of things
• Things to consider as we (hopefully) strive for patient-centered care with a bonus TED video that challenges us to consider the merits of embracing practical wisdom
• Fieldstone Alliance comes through for us again with a review of keys to successful collaboration
• A wonky tech tool free to use and easy as cake: CometDocs makes converting your docs a breeze…
• Our weekly installment of the Friday Q&A. Now with more moose! Our guest this week is the fabulous Jennifer Meyer of Forensic Nursing Services of Providence in Anchorage, Alaska.

I’m off to Peoria, IL next week for a SANE course. Postings will be a bit lighter, but still daily, barring any major acts of God.

Enjoy your weekend–it’s 80 degrees and sunny here in the CLE!

NYSCASA is hosting a webinar May 4th: Sexual Violence in the Military. It’s advertised as being NY state-specific, so if you’re in the area, it might be a good use of time (and I’m assuming if you’re not you could probably still attend). The featured speaker is a Navy SARC; it looks like medical will be one of the things addressed in the session.

Prevention Connection has announced its next webinar: The Role of Leadership in Creating Momentum for Primary Prevention of Violence Against Women. It will be held on May 5th (with a repeat on May 7th), at 11am Pacific Time (2pm ET). Participation is free, but pre-registration is required and spots are limited (and they do fill up).

The issue of Wood’s Lamps and other alternate light sources (ALS) in sexual assault medical forensic exams came up this week and it got me thinking about how often we do things because we were taught we should, and not because they’ve been shown to be particularly useful or effective. So I thought I’d take a few minutes to highlight the literature out there on ALS in the detection of semen on the bodies of sexual assault patients.