Child Sexual Abuse: Expanding the Research Base on Program and Treatment Outcomes

Ashley Thomson is a full librarian at Laurentian University and co-editor or co-author of nine books, most recently Margaret Atwood: A Reference Guide, 1988-2005.

Editors Thomlison and Bagley, who also appear as either principal or
secondary authors for five of the eleven pieces in this collection, have
here assembled a special issue of the Journal of Child and Youth Care
that contains papers originally presented at a workshop on research in
the field of child sexual abuse at the University of Calgary. Of the six
remaining authors, four are colleagues of the editors in the faculty of
social work at that university. Only two are outsiders: the fifth is
associated with the Children’s Aid Society of Metropolitan Toronto,
and the sixth is a former youth in care.

To suggest that all this is a bit incestuous would do a grave
disservice to this splendid collection, which defines the problem of
child sexual abuse, profiles types of victims and offenders, analyzes
the role of the police in the process, and reviews a variety of
treatment options. In a short review it is impossible to do justice to
the collection, other than to say that as an Ontarian (who also happens
to be president of a local children’s aid society) I was left with
great admiration for the work Albertans are doing in this area. I was
particularly moved by Brian Raychaba’s article. This piece by a former
youth in care summarizes discussions of sexually abused youth expressed
at a meeting of the National Youth in Care Network held in Calgary and
raises many “questions for academics in the field regarding research
methodologies.”

This special issue of the journal ends with reviews of two works
unrelated to child sexual abuse.