Adult survivors' of childhood sexual abuse perspectives of services: A systematic review

Aims : This review summarises and evaluates evidence regarding psychotherapy/counselling services for childhood sexual abuse (CSA) from the survivors' perspective. Methods : Studies were identified from systematic literature searches of PubMed, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Psychology and Behavioural Sciences Collection. Selected studies were published in English after 1980. Results : Nine studies met the inclusion criteria for this review. Survivors identified a range of experiences of services. Positive experiences focused mainly on the therapeutic relationship, and the importance of awareness about issues specific to survivors. Negative experiences included taking a sexual interest in clients, dealing ineffectively with errors, being unresponsive, and prescription of heavy medications. Conclusions : There is a lack of research in this area, especially in the UK. Findings were limited due to selection bias, inconsistencies in recruitment and procedure, ill‐described samples and analysis. Future research should obtain survivors' perspectives across genders, sexual orientation and ethnic background, and focus more on survivors' negative experiences.