Sexual boundary violations: victims, perpetrators and risk reduction

Abstract

SUMMARYSexual boundary violations by healthcare professionals is a subject that has largely been ignored in the UK. There has been little research into the field. It is rarely taught on professional training courses and practitioners appear to know very little about it. The history of sexual boundary violations is littered with failures to notice, failures to report and inadequate justice for victims and perpetrators alike. Perpetrators are commonly assumed to be predators. Given the many widely reported recent events in our media of both predatory and other sexual offenders, we believe it is timely for all healthcare and other professions working with vulnerable people to take the problem seriously, to provide appropriate services for victims, evaluation and assessment of perpetrators, and sanctions that fit the crime in order to regain public trust.LEARNING OBJECTIVES•Develop greater understanding of the problem of sexual boundary violations by professionals•Be able to manage the care of a patient who has been the victim of a sexual boundary violation•Understand factors in professionals that may lead to a sexual boundary violationDECLARATION OF INTERESTNone.