Counseling Sexually Abused Children in the Philippines:

A Survey of Practices, Beliefs and Activities

Jay A. Yacat; Zenaida S. Rosales; Regina M. Rabanillo
Department of Psychology, University of the Philippines, Diliman;
Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Sexual Abuse;
Terre des Hommes Netherlands*
E-mail: [email protected]

CHILD abuse remains one of the serious problems confronting Filipino children. Based
on the number of cases served by the Department of Social Welfare and Development
(DSWD) in 2006, child sexual abuse (CSA) accounted for 35.8% of the total cases
(2,803 of 7,066). These figures paint an alarming situation specifically for girl
children, as sexual abuse comprised 52% of the cases of girls handled by the DSWD.
The data still do not include those cases lodged with different private institutions and
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) throughout the country.

Considerable attention has been placed on the study of the nature, contributory factors
to victimization or healing, and impacts of sexual abuse on Filipino children and
families (Ladion, 2007; Tarroja et al, 2007; Bautista et al, 2001; Carandang, 1996;).
Very few have focused on studies of interventions. An extensive literature review
noted that child abuse interventions in the Philippines, including those for CSA, were
largely eclectic, characterized by exploration and experimentation which are largely
atheoretical, and if theory-driven, usually involved strategies and techniques imported
from the West (Dela Cruz et al, 2000). Furthermore, the approaches are generally
designed for individual sessions which places a heavy burden on the already
overworked child care workers,

In other countries like the United States, counseling was found to be a positive, useful
and effective intervention across the full range of issues confronting children and
young people, including sexual abuse (Pattison & Harris, 2006). In the Philippines,
counseling was recognized as the primary tool among child care workers (Dela Cruz
et al, 2000). Unfortunately, there were very few studies that attempted to describe the
practice and status of counseling in the Philippines. Two of the most relevant were
done by Clemeña (1993) and Villar (1997). While the first looked into the history,
practice, education and training of counselors, the second compared the status of
counseling practice in the Philippines alongside the more dominant Western
approaches. Both studies, however, focused on education graduates who are not
trained to handle the more serious problems such as child abuse.

Another survey was done by Teh (2003), which investigated the practice and status of
psychotherapy in the Philippines. This preliminary investigation sampled 48
psychotherapists who were mostly psychologists, psychiatrists, and guidance
counselors. However, it was found that the respondents primarily dealt with adult
client who bring to therapy issues such as marital and family problems. Problems that
involved children usually were school-related, e.g. poor grades, underachievement,
learning disabilities, hyperactivity. Sexual abuse of children was not reported by the
respondents.
* The authors would like to thank TDH Netherlands for giving funding support for the survey.
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It seems that social workers are the ones tasked to handle sexual abuse and other
related problems. However, there has been no systematic investigation on the practice
of counseling child sexual abuse to date. This present study was conducted in order to
provide a preliminary look into the status and practice of counseling sexually abused
children in the Philippines. More specifically, it seeks to provide information on the
following:

1. profile of counselors working with CSA clients and the organizations they
belong to;
2. description of the intervention process including the initial contact and intake;
interaction with clients, supervision, case documentation;
3. counselors’ beliefs regarding sexual abuse and self reported efficacy in
counseling
4. training received related to CSA

METHOD

Measure

An 11-page questionnaire was constructed to obtain information on a wide range of

items related to personal and professional characteristics. Sample characteristics
consisted of age, gender, civil status, religion, birthplace, highest educational
attainment, current organization, years in current profession.

Questions about the services offered included information on the following: caseload
(e.g., number and types of cases handled); and types of services, administrative and
professional support. Questions related to professional activities inquired about
trainings received, references on child sexual abuse available to the respondent.

Another major section involved an assessment of the practitioner’s own capability in

providing different counseling skills. The next section presented 13 cases and asked
respondents to indicate if they have ever encountered a particular case in their career
and to briefly describe the action they have taken in response to the situation. The last
part consisted of 20 items that looked into: beliefs about the nature of child sexual
abuse; attitudes towards their work as a counselor; and beliefs about their efficacy as
counselors.

Procedure

CPTCSA prepared an initial list of organizations known for counseling services for
children victim-survivors of sexual abuse. This list is drawn from the pool of
participants who have participated in the trainings that CPTCSA has conducted over
the years government and non government organizations who are known to CPTCSA
as providing services to sexually abused children. A total of 135 questionnaires were
sent out to 108 organizations. However, only 60 questionnaires were returned,
yielding only a 44.4% return rate.

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Data Analysis

Descriptive statistical procedures were mainly used to summarize the survey

responses: frequency counts and percentage computations were used to determine
patterns of counseling practices while means were computed for the attitude and
belief items.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Sample Characteristics

A total of 60 counselors responded to the survey. However, not all of the respondents
provided complete information, one of the major artifacts of a mailed questionnaire.
Females dominated the sample (52 of 55 or 94.5%), a figure that may correspond to a
gender disparity in the profession.

Table 1. Number of participants by sex and location.

NCR Luzon Visayas Mindanao TOTAL
Females 22 4 17 11 52
Males 2 0 1 0 3
TOTAL 24 4 18 11 55

Almost half of the respondents (43.6%) came from the National Capital Region
(NCR). About 32.7% came from the Visayas. Only 20% came from Mindanao, while
only four respondents came from other parts of Luzon. If these figures accurately
represent the actual population of practitioners then this clearly shows that child
sexual abuse counselors have a tendency to practice mostly in Metro Manila.

The mean age of the respondents was 36.9 years (SD = 10.7), indicating a young set
of practitioners. Male and female respondents have almost equivalent mean ages (Age
females = 35.9 vs Age males = 36.7). For the 56 respondents who provided information on
their civil status, majority are either single (51.8%) or married (42.9%). About 3.6%
are widowed and 1.8% reported to be cohabiting with a partner. Among the
respondents, 86.7% (52) reported some type of religious affiliation, with Catholics as
the majority (75% or 39 of the 52 respondents). Some 17.3% self-identified as
Christians while only three respondents are Protestants. There was only one Muslim
participant in the sample.

Majority of the respondents hold a bachelor’s degree in Social Work (42 of 56 or

75%) and obtained these degrees in private colleges and universities (40 of 56 or
76.9%). There were only 6 respondents who have psychology baccalaureate degrees.

Meanwhile, only 16 (30.7%) indicated the master’s level as the highest degrees. Of
this number, about 37.5% were degrees in social work and 18.75% were in
psychology. However, it is interesting that a few respondents (%?) received advanced
degrees that are remotely related to counseling practice (e.g., public administration).

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Institutional Affiliation

Majority of the respondents are affiliated with non-governmental organizations

(62.1%) while the rest work in the Department of Social Welfare and Development
(DSWD). Usually, the respondents are deployed in shelters or centers as social
workers (in the case of NGOs) or social welfare officers (in DSWD run shelters). On
average, the respondents reported 4.5 years practicing as counselors, reflecting a very
young set of respondents. However, it is also important to note that about 11 of the
respondents have been in their profession for about ten years or more.

Caseload

It was found that majority of the respondents belonged to organizations that do not
solely cater to child sexual abuse cases. This is basically true for social workers from
the DSWD which is tasked to respond to a variety of children in need of special
protection (e.g., victims of trafficking, children in situations of sexual exploitation,
street children).

The respondents reported that, on the average, their agencies have about five staff
members who handle child sexual abuse cases. However, the respondents reported
personally taking charge of an average of 28 cases. About 21 of these are sexual abuse
cases. Meanwhile, respondents from government agencies have a heavier CSA
caseload than those working for private agencies and NGOs (Mean caseloadGov =
28.25 vs Mean caseloadNGO= 16.17. Only eight out of 57 respondents handle solely
child sexual abuse cases while four respondents are handling solely non-CSA cases.

About 46.7% respondents also revealed that they are given flexibility in determining
which cases to handle. Others who are not afforded that flexibility (38.3%) explain
that they are the only ones in the organization who are available or capable to take on
the case. Unfortunately, only 30% of the counselors are able to determine their case
load. This is especially true among social workers in government institutions.

Services Offered for Sexually Abused Children

On the average, the respondents reported that their respective organizations have been
providing services for sexually abused children for about 11.8 years (SD = 8.8). This
implies that some organizations have been working on this problem for almost 20
years while some have been in operation for a little over three years.

What services are rendered? As reported by the respondents, counseling for the child
victim-survivor (91.7%) topped the list of services offered by their agencies. Other
services within the domain of counseling also were high on the list: counseling of the
family (80.0%) and group counseling/therapy (70.0%). These results confirm and
reaffirm that counseling is one of the primary interventions given to victims of child
sexual abuse.

It was also interesting that other services, not essentially counseling-related but
integral to the healing process, were reported to being offered by a majority of the
agencies that the respondents belong to. One set of services are what may be called as

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emergency or immediate services, such as provision of medical assistance (e.g.,
medico-legal examinations, treatment of injuries, etc.) and temporary shelter. The
other set includes services which may aid rehabilitation such as provision of legal
assistance when children have decided to file charges against their perpetrators, or
those that would develop the children’s knowledge and skills (provision of education).

The other services were more specialized and thus may not be readily offered by most
organizations. These include: psychological assessment and psychiatric evaluation,
and police reporting. The low number of staff trained in psychology may partly
explain why psychological services are usually not part of the organization’s menu of
services. Meanwhile, foster care and residential care are usually offered by either
government-supported agencies or those funded by international donors or church
organizations.

Table 2. Types of services currently offered for sexually abused children

% freq
Counseling of child victim- 91.7 55
survivor
Counseling of family 80.0 48
Provision of medical assistance 76.7 44
Temporary shelter 75.0 45
Group counseling/therapy 70.0 42
Provision of legal assistance 70.0 42
Provision of vocational, 61.7 37
educational or special education
Police reporting 55.0 33
Psychological assessment 55.0 33
Psychiatric evaluation 33.3 20
Foster care 28.3 17
Residential care 24.0 36

Different Aspects of Interventions for Child Sexual Abuse

We have learned from the preceding section that counseling services count as the
major types of interventions given to children who have experienced sexual abuse.
This section will provide us an overview of the systems and processes that the
organizations adopt in their attempt to provide these services to children. Among
those that will be discussed are the following: process of initial contact with the child,
including reasons for the contact and the intake process (more specifically, the kind of
information taken in the initial contact with the child); the referral system, including
the presence of a referral network or a multi-disciplinary response team; and the
counseling interventions, including counseling techniques, case monitoring and
supervision.

Initial Contact with Child Victim-Survivor. In most cases, contact is almost always
done by referral by another organization (43%) or the organization itself makes the
contact (40%). There are a few occasions (16.7%) that the child’s family or relatives

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brought the child to the organization or that children themselves would personally
contact the agencies (11.7%).

Table 3 shows the reasons for initial contact with the children. As expected, a
majority of the cases were to provide counseling for the children. The rest of the
dominant reasons all involve for emergency and immediate assistance: protective
custody (71.7%); admission to residential care (68.3%); provision of legal assistance
(63.3%), and medical assistance (58.3%). These may be the reason why these are the
services usually offered by most organizations helping children victims of sexual
abuse as seen in Table 2, implying that sexual abuse is seen as a problem that needs
immediate help and support. It is also important to note that although rescue is an
emergency assistance, only government-run agencies are mandated by law to perform
the rescue of children.

Table 3. Reasons for Initial Contact

% freq
Counseling 76.7 46
Protective custody 71.7 43
Admission to residential 68.3 41
care
Provision of legal 63.3 38
assistance
Provision of medical 58.3 35
assistance
Rescue 50.0 30
Provision of 45.0 27
vocational/educational training
Psychological assessment 35.0 21
Foster care 25.0 15
Psychiatric evaluation 23.3 14
Others (e.g., financial 23.3 14
assistance)

The other services may not be the primary reasons why children come into contact
with organizations because they represent more specialized assistance (e.g.,
psychological assessment and psychiatric evaluation) or more long-term rehabilitative
help (e.g., education).

Based on the data, we could categorize the available services for child sexual abuse
victims into two: the basic services (those that focus on safety and emergency forms
of assistance, and those that most organizations offer) and the more long-term
services (those that are more specialized and focus on mental health services, and
therefore, cannot be readily offered by most organizations).

The intervention process. The most common mechanism in the intervention process
for children is the intake interview (90%). Other common strategies include referral
and case study formulation (both at 83.3%).

The next cluster of activities has something to do with the treatment: from
formulation to implementation (78.3%). Interestingly, those activities that have

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something to do with more in-depth assessments, monitoring and evaluation are not
common processes. Given the high caseload of individual counselors, this finding is
also alarming in the sense that it suggests that counselors do not find time to reflect if
their strategies are working or not.

Table 4. The Intervention Process

% freq
intake interview 90.0 57
referral 83.3 54
case study formulation 83.3 50
treatment goal and treatment 78.3 47
plan formulation
treatment implementation 78.3 47
assessment session 76.7 46
evaluation 73.3 44
assessment reformulation 61.7 37

The intake. Of the 57 that reported having an intake interview, only 56 reported using
an intake form. What information is collected about the child victim survivor? Table 5
shows the basic features based on the intake form used by CPTCSA and the
proportion of respondents who also collect the same information in their intake
interviews.

Table 5. The Basic Features of An Intake Form

% n
name of child 100.0 56
educational attainment 100.0 56
Sex of child 98.2 55
Age of child 98.2 55
date of birth 98.2 55
family composition 98.2 55
place of birth 90.4 54
religion 88.3 53
nature or circumstance of abuse 85.7 48
child’s source of social support 83.9 47
physical or psychological 71.4 40
complaints
child’s abilities or interests 67.9 38
information on alleged 67.9 38
abuser/perpetrator
report of behavioral changes 62.5 35
since the abuse
history of family violence, 60.7 34
substance abuse or legal
problems
experience of reporting the 42.9 24
abuse
experience of previous 30.4 17
counseling
factors of not returning for 19.6 11
another session

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We found that a number of socio-demographic information about the child was
deemed important: name of the child, age, sex, religion, education, and birth date.
Family composition is the only information about the family that is included on the
top of the list.

The next cluster of important information includes: place of birth, religion, nature or
circumstance of abuse and child’s source of social support. It is surprising that the
report on the circumstance of abuse itself is grouped in this cluster and not included as
one of the most important information in the intake form.

Not as frequently collected are information on: physical or psychological complaints,

child’s abilities or interests, information on alleged abuser/perpetrator, report of
behavioral changes since the abuse, and history of family violence, substance abuse or
legal problems. Again, these are important information that could guide a counselor in
formulating an intervention plan and yet were not as prioritized as the other sets of
information.

Considered to be least important are the following: experience of previous counseling,

experience of reporting the abuse, and factors of not returning for another session.

The Multidisciplinary Team and the Referral System. Only 66.7% (40) of the
respondents stated that their organizations have their own multidisciplinary response
team. The usual composition would be a medical doctor, usually a pediatrician or
general practitioner (43.9%), psychologist (38.6%), lawyer (36.8%), police
representative (29.8%) psychiatrist (28.1%)

While only 54 mentioned referral as part of their intervention process, 57 respondents

reported having a referral network. Table 6 lists the services that respondents refer to
other agencies. Note that two of the top three services (psychological assessment and
psychiatric evaluation) were also those that are not usually offered by the
respondents’ agencies, hence requiring referral when necessary.

However, it was interesting that provision of legal and medical assistance were also
referred to other agencies, although these were reported as offered by most
organizations (Table 2) and considered as basic services for initial contact (Table 3).
What would account for this inconsistency? While this lack of confirmation is clearly
a limitation of the survey method, we may logically surmise that legal and medical
assistance that go beyond those which are offered by the organizations are the ones
that are referred to other agencies. For example, most of the organizations that
referred medical assistance named general and mental hospitals as receiving agencies.

Table 6. Services that Respondents Refer to Their Network

% n
psychological assessment 71.7 43
provision of legal assistance 71.7 43
psychiatric evaluation 70.0 42
provision of medical 68.3 41
assistance
temporary shelter 53.3 32
residential care 50.0 30

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 provision of 50.0 30
vocational/educational training
counseling of child victim- 38.3 23
survivor
counseling of family 38.3 23
foster care 28.3 17

Individual and Group Counseling. While 55 respondents (91.7%) reported having

counseling services for children (Table 2), interestingly 59 (98.3%) mentioned
conducting individual counseling. Aside from that, only 48 (80%) mentioned having a
separate private room in their organizations for such purposes. This suggests a lack of
privacy when conducting individual sessions with the children for some 20% of the
respondents, a situation that could limit the efficacy of the sessions.

How frequent are these sessions done? It is alarming that while most of the
respondents reported counseling as a core service, only as the need arises is the
modal response (41.7%). Next would be weekly sessions (20%). On average, the
counselors spend a total of 2.7 hours per child in a week.

Meanwhile, about 71.7% (43) reported conducting group sessions with their clients.
And like individual counseling, group counseling is conducted only as the need arises
(23.3%) or weekly (21.7%). On average, the counselors spend about 1.7 hours per
weekly group session.

Considering the heavy caseload of most counselors (who not only handle CSA cases),
weekly sessions for individual and group counseling sessions would be the most
manageable schedule.

Records-Keeping, Case Supervision and Case Conferencing. About 86.7% of the

respondents reported their capability of recording their sessions for supervisory
purposes while 90% claimed keeping accurate records of their transactions with their
clients. On average, they spend about 1.6 hours per case building these records. An
interesting follow up study would be an analysis of the case records that these
counselors keep.

About 83.3% reported being supervised by a superior (a higher ranked social worker
in the case of government run agencies) or the program or executive director (in non-
governmental organizations). Supervision is mostly done for administrative purposes
(80%), such as monitoring case load, report writing and other administrative
concerns; but not so much for emotional and professional support (63.3%) nor
educational purposes (56.7%). These sessions are conducted monthly (26.7%) or as
the need arises (25%). When they have a problem with a case they are handling, a
large proportion (91.7%) seeks their supervisor’s help.

Case conferences are reported to be done by 78.3% of the respondents. These

conferences are usually done monthly (30%) and last an average of 2.2 hours.

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Experiences in Handling Specific Counseling Issues

Given a list of 13 case scenarios, the respondents were asked to indicate which of
these they have had experience handling in their career. Incidentally, the top five
situations were experienced by more than half of the participants, also indicating the
nature of cases most commonly handled by the counselors in the sample.

Table 7. Experiences in Handling Counseling Issues

% freq
Multiple sexual abuse 70.0 42
Refusal to disclose 66.7 40
Refusal to file charges 63.3 38
Violence or aggressive behaviors 61.7 37
Suicide ideation 56.7 34
Age inappropriate sexual language 45.0 27
Clients with depression 36.7 22
Disclosures of female masturbation 30.0 18
Run away clients 30.0 18
Age inappropriate sexual play 26.7 16
Children who molest other children 26.7 16
Disclosures of male masturbation 21.7 13
Use of pornography 8.3 5

What were the common strategies in handling these issues? Again, the modal
response would be to set up a counseling session with the particular child. This is
done especially with problems that the counselor feel either capable of handling or
situations that are less severe. One example of such a situation is counseling a child
who has experienced multiple sexual violations. Those who are reluctant to disclose
or refuse to file charges are re-assured and comforted during counseling sessions.
Further study on counseling methods would be warranted.

However, those situations that are beyond the competence or control of the counselor
such as suicide ideation would entail referral or help-seeking (e.g., setting up a case
conference).

Beliefs on Child Sexual Abuse

Using a five-point Likert scale, we explored the counselor’s beliefs on child sexual
abuse with eight items dealing with: the nature and circumstance of abuse, reasons for
the abuse, impact on children, the role of interventions.

Children tend to be truthful about their reports of sexual abuse. Our data showed that
the counselors believe that when children report an incidence of sexual abuse, they are
telling the truth (M = 3.9, SD = 1.2). This belief is consistent with several researches
that indicate that children rarely lie about or imagine being sexually abused. In fact,
what children often do is to minimize and deny, rather than fabricate what has
happened to them (Sjoberg & Lindblad, 2002; Lawson, & Chaffin, 1992).

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Children-victims of sexual abuse, without any treatment or intervention, cannot
overcome the trauma that they have experienced. The respondents have only
moderate agreement with this statement (M = 3.4, SD = 1.4). This tells us that some
of the counselors also believe that children can survive the trauma of child sexual
abuse even without any intervention.

I believe that child sexual abusers are sexually attracted to their victims. The
respondents somewhat disagreed with this statement (M = 2.6, SD = 1.23). However,
it is also important to point out that a number of our counselors believe in this
statement, producing an ambiguous overall position.

Counseling sexually abused children do not require specialized strategies. The

respondents strongly disagreed with this statement (M = 1.8, SD =0.9), suggesting
that child sexual abuse cases should be handled differently from other cases. In fact,
these strategies may make the difference between a child’s disclosing and not
disclosing (Wood & Graven, 2000).

In fact, good rapport-building skills may make the difference between a child's
disclosing and not disclosing (Wood & Garven), as "acceptance and validation are
crucial to the psychological survival of the victim" (Summit, 1983, p. 53). Requiring
specialized strategies, however, would mean that counselors would also need
specialized training.

Most abusers are known to their children-victims. The counselors strongly agreed
with this statement (M = 4.0, SD = 1.1), and both research and practice support this
belief. For example, the 2000 data from the University of the Philippines Child
Protection Unit show that 65% of the perpetrators in all cases were family members,
with 23% non-familial, 5% unknown and 7% other undisclosed.

Children who are sexually abused will become abusers as adults. The counselors
were somewhat conflicted over this statement (M = 3.2, SD = 1.1). While there is
widespread belief in a “cycle” of child sexual abuse, there is also very little empirical
evidence for this belief. The studies that explored this link, found the cycle more
likely among male children than among female children. For example, one study
looked into clinical case note reviews of 843 subjects attending a specialist forensic
psychotherapy center (Glasser et al, 2001). The data support the notion of a victim-to-
victimizer cycle only in a minority of male perpetrators but not among the female
victims studied. Romano & de Luca (1997) found similar trends in their study of male
sexual offenders

Incidents of sexual abuse are usually single, violent incidents. Counselors believed
that sexual abuse incidents are NOT just single, violent episodes (M = 2.7, SD = 1.2).
Again, as borne out by research, sexual abuse could be multiple episodes.

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Counseling Skills and Counselor Self-Efficacy

The following section presents the repertoire of counseling skills which the
respondents rated based on a seven point scale that measures their self-reported
capability. Of the 17 items on the list, only two items were rated poorly: handling
cases of sexually abused boys (M= 3.5, SD=1.6) and gay children (M=3.4, SD= 1.7).
The low rating may be attributed to a lack of experience in handling such cases.

Table 8. Mean Self-Ratings of Confidence in Performing Specific Counseling Skills

Means SD
Individual counseling with child 5.5 1.2
Networking with other professionals 5.2 1.4
Facilitating group sessions 5.1 1.4
Assessment 5.1 1.3
Handling cases of sexually abused girls 5.1 1.3
Counseling parents or guardians 5.0 1.4
Formulating case management plans 4.9 1.5
Documenting cases 4.9 1.3
Handling cases of adolescents 4.9 1.4
Group counseling 4.7 1.5
Stress management 4.7 1.4
Handling child sexuality 4.7 1.5
Organizing case conferences 4.7 1.5
Handling adolescent sexuality 4.6 1.6
Handling cases of school age children 4.6 1.6
Handling cases of pre-school age 4.1 1.6
children
Handling cases of sexually abused boys 3.5 1.6
Handling cases of sexually abused gay 3.4 1.7
children

On the other hand, as expected, individual counseling with children was rated as the
highest among the skills that counselors felt most capable in doing, a pattern that we
have seen to be very consistent. They were also quite confident about managing
different types of clients (e.g., girls, adolescents, school-aged children, pre-school
children). Last, they also reported being capable in handling the different phases of
the intervention process. The counselors also reported being least confident in
handling cases of sexually abused boys or gay children.

Self-efficacy, or more appropriately perceived self-efficacy, is defined as the belief

that one is capable of performing in a certain manner to attain certain goals (Ormrod,
2006). In the context of counseling, this would entail the counselor’s perception of his
or her competence to conduct counseling. This was explored using seven items
measured on a five point Likert scale (see Table 9). For the analysis, negatively stated
items were recoded so that higher mean scores suggested higher self-efficacy.

Table 9. Mean Ratings on Items on Counselor Self-Efficacy

Mean SD
I feel that I have adequate fundamental 3.7 1.0
knowledge to do effective counseling.
I do not feel that I possess a large enough repertoire 3.0 1.2
of techniques to deal with the different problems that

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 sexually abused clients may present.**
I feel that I am an effective counselor of sexually 3.0 1.2
abused children.
In working with sexually abused clients, I may have a 2.9 1.3
difficult time viewing situations from their
perspective.**
I feel competent regarding my abilities to deal with 2.9 1.2
crisis situations that
I am likely to impose my personal values on the 2.8 1.2
sexually abused client during the interview.**
I feel that my religious beliefs interfere with my ability 2.2 1.2
to counsel sexually abused children.**
** recoded items

Considering the high level of confidence given to specific counseling skills in Table
8, it was surprising that the respondents gave very low ratings to most of the self-
efficacy statements. Only possessing adequate knowledge revealed some degree of
confidence among the counselors. A closer look at the data would suggest that many
of the counselors feel that they lack the capability of taking the other’s perspective,
especially when it conflicts with their personal values and religious beliefs. However,
one major limitation of this measure is that many of the respondents left most of the
items unanswered which may affect the validity of the results.

Attitudes towards Counseling as a Profession

The participants showed very strong positive attitudes towards their current profession
as shown in Table 10. This is an important finding as this would signal the
respondents’ current level of satisfaction with the work that they do and also in some
way predict openness to more training and desire to provide more quality service.

Table 10 . Items on Attitudes towards Counseling as a Profession

Mean SD
If I had all the money I needed without working, I 3.9 1.1
would probably still continue in my professional
discipline.
If I could go into a different profession that paid the 2.7 1.2
same, I would do it.
If I could do it all over again, I would not choose to 2.1 1.0
work in my professional discipline.
I definitely want a career for myself in the professional 2.9 1.3
discipline I am currently in.

Counselor Continuing Education and Access to Information

Only 9 respondents (15%) reported never having undergone any training, seminar or
workshop on sexually abused children. About 73.3% participated in a training
seminar within the last six months of the time the survey was conducted. The topics of

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the workshops and seminars may be divided into the following areas: child abuse;
counseling and therapy; interventions regarding child sexual abuse.

Only 43 (%) respondents mentioned being interested in receiving further training

related to child sexual abuse. They are most interested in the following domains: 1)
theories and perspectives on child abuse, including current trends in research and
practice; 2) approaches, methods and techniques in handling child sexual abuse; and
3) skills for a more effective intervention process. A complete list can be found in
Appendix 1.

Table 11. Ideal Number of Days for a

Training Seminar on Child Sexual Abuse
% freq
1-3 39.5 17
4-7 46.5 20
8 and more 14.0 6
TOTAL 100.0 43

What reference materials are at hand for the counselors in their respective
organizations? Basing our analysis on reference materials available to the
respondents, we could say that a more general information on children’s rights but not
much access to more specific information on child sexual abuse.

Table 12. Reference Materials Available to Respondents

% freq
Books or manuscripts on 81.7 49
children’s rights
Copies of local laws relevant 70.0 42
to child sexual abuse
Books on child sexual abuse 58.3 34
Training modules on identifying 53.3 32
and managing child sexual
abuse
Research on child sexual abuse 25.0 15

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

The study confirms that those who provide the counseling interventions for sexually
abused children are mostly social workers. The sample reflects a very young set of
practitioners, in terms of age and experience. Very few have advanced degrees in
social work or related disciplines.

The respondents have an average of about 28 cases they are personally handling.
While a major bulk of their caseload focuses on child sexual abuse, the respondents
are also expected to cater to other child abuse cases. Case workers in government
agencies handle more cases than those in private institutions and NGOs.

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As expected, counseling was reported as the most common intervention offered to
CSA clients. Other services offered by the organizations include more emergency-
related services such as medico-legal assistance, and other rehabilitative services such
as provision of education or economic assistance. The range of services provided by
many of the organizations suggests an attempt to be more holistic in the interventions
provided for the children. Since most of the organizations are more equipped to
provide counseling services, other interventions, especially those that are more
specialized, such as psychological or psychiatric assessment, are usually referred to
other agencies. A referral network becomes a necessary and integral aspect of
working with and helping sexually abused children. While most of the respondents
reported having such a network in place, only a few have a multidisciplinary team in
place in their own locales of operation. It was also unclear as to how these systems
operate since this is beyond the scope of the present instrument. These questions on
systems and processes may be captured by more in-depth investigations using
interviews and actual observation.

What is the nature of counseling sessions? We found that although counseling was
reported to be the core of the services given to CSA clients, most of the time this was
reported as being done only as the need arises. We surmised that this is due to the
heavy caseload assigned to each case worker. If conducted, individual counseling
sessions last for an average of 2.7 hours while group counseling sessions take about
1.7 hours. Surprisingly, 20% of the respondents reported not having a separate room
for conducting counseling sessions.

Not all respondents reported keeping records of their transactions with their clients.
Those who do keep records spend about 1.7 hours building the records per case. The
respondents also reported being subjected to monthly supervision usually by their
immediate supervisors. However, supervision is mostly for administrative purposes.
This is unfortunate since supervision has the important role of supporting counselors
who directly confront the trauma of sexual abuse and may also become traumatized in
the process (Etherington, 2000). Meanwhile, case conferences are usually done once a
month.

Of the 13 example cases, only five were reported as being encountered by more than
half of the respondents. These include: multiple sexual abuse; refusal to disclose;
refusal to file charges; violence or aggressive behaviors; and suicide ideation. These
cases are usually the most common clusters of behaviors and situations associated
with CSA victims. The counselors’ familiarity with these cases may help bolster their
ability to handle these situations in the future since experience was found to positively
affect the sense of self-efficacy (Ormrod, 2006). On the other hand, the lack of
familiarity with the remaining eight cases may also negatively impact their confidence
in handling similar cases in the future. For example, since very few cases of sexual
abuse cases involved boys, the respondents also reported low confidence in
counseling boys (and gay children) who experienced sexual abuse. Thus, it becomes
imperative that education and training institutions for social workers include adequate
discussions of the range of possible situations associated with childhood sexual abuse.

We found that the respondents have considerable confidence in handling specific

counseling scenarios. While they reported possessing adequate fundamental
knowledge in counseling, they are unsure of their ability to take the other’s

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perspective, especially when it conflicts with their personal values and religious
beliefs.

We also tested the respondents’ beliefs about child sexual abuse. We found that
respondents’ beliefs coincide with research evidence for only three of the eight items:
children are truthful about their disclosures of abuse; most abusers are known to the
victims; and sexual abuse is not just a single episode. For the remaining five items,
the respondents seem to hold opposing beliefs. It does not bode well that most of the
respondents have admitted to having only a basic knowledge of child sexual abuse,
and not having access to current information on child sexual abuse.

Based on these findings, we propose three lines of recommendations: a) future

research; b) training and continuing education; and c) standards of practice.

Future research

This present investigation provided a highly descriptive account of some aspects of

counseling practice related to child sexual abuse. A number of limitations of the
study’s methodology warrant a follow up research: incomplete information provided
by the respondents; and the small sample size and the lack of representativeness
(since the total number of counselors working with CSA clients is currently unknown)
severely limit the results’ validity and reliability. Other questions about the counseling
process were left unexplored (eg., How is counseling actually done? What is the
quality of records-keeping for CSA cases?), since these are more amenable to other
methods like in-depth interviews, observations, and document analysis.

Training and continuing education

We feel that an undergraduate degree does not provide an adequate grasp of the
complexity of childhood sexual abuse, and a more advanced and specialized training
on child sexual abuse should be encouraged for practitioners in the field. These may
come in the form of a formal degree or an equivalent series of continuing education.
We recommend that supervisors allow their counselors some time off to receive the
necessary training in order for them to be equipped with the adequate knowledge,
skills and attitudes to provide quality care for children. Supervisors and counselors
need to be reminded that training and education is a lifelong process of updating,
retooling, and reflecting.

Training content should focus not only in strategies and techniques, but also most
especially in correcting possible misconceptions and helping counselors adopt an
orientation more suited to working with children in this situation. It is also important
for counselors to keep abreast with the current developments in the research and
practice regarding child sexual abuse.

Standard of practice

We found several aspects of the intervention process that may negatively impact on
the quality of service being offered to CSA clients. Foremost is the heavy caseload

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carried by each counselor. A heavy caseload results in shorter interactions with each
child, leads to a lack of or poor documentation of cases, and contributes to the
possible burnout of even the most dedicated case worker.

It is also important that systems and processes support the rendering of quality service
for CSA clients. For example, the interventions should ensure that the child is not
traumatized by repetitive interviews and procedures (Dela Cruz et al, 2000). These
include an adequate tool for intake and monitoring, the provision of a private (and
safe) space for counseling and other related purposes, close supervision that is not just
done for administrative purposes, a working and reliable referral system, and if
possible, a competent and sensitive multi-disciplinary team.

There may be a need for all those involved in the practice of helping sexually abused
children to come together and seriously and actively discuss the issues that affect their
work with these children. The establishment of a national network of individuals and
organizations that provide CSA services and intervention may not only facilitate the
monitoring and regulation of the practice of counseling for sexually abused children
but also provide the much needed support among practitioners themselves.

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REFERENCES:

Bautista, V.; Roldan, A. & Garces-Bacsal, M. (2001). Working with Abused Children
from the Lenses of Resilience and Contextualization. Quezon City: Save the
Children UK - Philippines and UP Center for Integrative and Development
Studies Psychosocial Trauma and Human Rights Program.

Carandang, M.L. (1996). Listen to Their Inner Voice: Street Children Speak Through
Their Drawings and Metaphors. Manila: UNICEF.

Clemeña, R.S. (1993). Counseling psychology in the Philippines: Research and

practice. Manila, Philippines: De La Salle University Press.

Dela Cruz, T.; Protacio-Marcelino, E.; Balanon, F.; Camacho, A. & Yacat, J. (2000).
Child Abuse in the Philippines: Integrated Review of the Literature and
Annotated Bibliography. Quezon City: Plan International Philippines and UP
Center for Integrative and Development Studies Psychosocial Trauma and
Human Rights Program.

Department of Social Welfare and Development. (2006). MFOs 2 & 3.

Etherington, K. (2000). Supervising counselors who work with survivors of childhood

sexual abuse. Counseling Psychology Quarterly, 13(4); 377-389.

Glasser M. ; Kolvin I.; Campbell D.; Glasser A.; et al. (2001). Cycle of child sexual
abuse: links between being a victim and becoming a perpetrator. British
Journal of Psychiatry, 179; 482-497.

Ladion, F. (2007). Kiss of heaven: Recovering from the trauma of child sexual abuse
among Evangelical Christians. Philippine Journal of Psychology, 40(2); 58-
87.

Lawson, L., & Chaffin, M. (1992). False negatives in sexual abuse disclosure
interviews. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 7, 532-542.

Ormrod, J. E. (2006). Educational Psychology: Developing Learners (5th ed.), N.J.,

Merrill: Upper Saddle River (companion website).

Pattison, S. & Harris, B. (2006). Counselling children and young people: A review of
the evidence for its effectiveness. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research;
6(4); 233-237.

Romano, E. & De Luca, R.V. (1997). Exploring the relationship between childhood
sexual abuse and adult sexual perpetration. Journal of Family Violence, 12 (1);
85-98.
Sjoberg, R. L., & Lindblad, F. (2002). Limited disclosure of sexual abuse in children
whose experiences were documented by videotape. American Journal of
Psychiatry, 159; 312-314.

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Summit, R. (1983). The child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome. Child Abuse
and Neglect, 7, 177-192.

Tarroja, M.C.; Balajadia-Alcala, M.A. & Co, S.A. (2007). The impact of family
composition and last incident of abuse on the psychosocial well-being of
abused children. Philippine Journal of Psychology, 40(2), pp. 111-136.

Teh, L. (2003). A survey on the practice and status of psychotherapy in the

Philippines. Philippine Journal of Psychology, 36(1); 112-133.

Villar, I. (1997). Western approach to counseling in the Philippines. Manila,

Philippines: De La Salle University Press.

Wood, J. M., & Garven, S. (2000). How sexual abuse interviews go astray:
Implications for prosecutors, police, and child protection services. Child
Maltreatment, 5, 109-118.

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 Appendix 1

Theories, Perspectives and Approaches, Methods and Intervention Processes

Information Techniques

• qualitative research on CSA • gender sensitive approach • treatment plan formulation

• Updated Data Banking on • creative and indigenous & implementation
CNSP methods of interventation • measuring impact of
• dynamics of a sexually • Group therapy sessions with intervention
abused child CSA victim survivors • documenting counselling
• determinants of a child • behavior modification for sessions
sexual abuse victim, children • effective documentation of
• trends on helping Child • art therapies for CNSP therapy/counseling,
abuse cases, , • handling child sexual abuse supervision
• abused kids that have victim • intake, interview and
developed behavior • family therapy consultations
problems as a result of the • play therapy • management of cases with
abuse, multi-personality • therapeutic activities for sexual manifestation
• how to handle sexual abuse sexually abused children • how to be a good/effective
child • treating sexually abused counselor to sexual abuse
• problem as means to cope children that were children
with the abused institutionalized • case management
• impact of child sexual • counseling on child sexual
abuse abuse
• laws relevant to sexual • handling traumas, physical
abuse massage training
• Sexuality in Church and • therapy on CSA
State • how to handle indiv
counsel/SA
• training for house parents
• how to conduct
individual/group counselling
• therapy to rape victims
• techniques/approaches in
handling SA cases
• management of dysfunctional
family/client
• handling adolescent sexuality
• Simplified Activities to Reform
Child Young Sexual Offenders
• treatment of sexually abuse
children inculding the
implementation of the after
care program

Note: Any republication by the web users, in whatever form, without the written
consent by the authors is prohibited. The text may be used only for internal
information needs.

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