A Danish Model for Treating Victims of Rape and Sexual Assault: The Multidisciplinary Public Approach

Most centers for rape and sexual assault victims today build on the original principles proposed in Boston by Burgess and Holmstrom in the 1970s (Burgess, 2006 Burgess, A. W. 2006. “Putting trauma on the radar screen”. In Mapping trauma and its wake: Autobiographic essays by pioneer trauma scholars, Edited by: Figley, C. R. 17–31. New York: Routledge. [Google Scholar]; Burgess & Holmstrom, 1973 Burgess, A. W. and Holmstrom, L. L. 1973. The rape victim in the emergency room. American Journal of Nursing, 73: 1740–1745. [Google Scholar]). In line with technological advances, scientific developments, and societal changes, the standards of and the framework behind these centers must be assessed and developed further to accommodate the growing need for rape trauma services in Europe and worldwide. This article describes the experiences of a public Danish center for rape victims and proposes a management model for current and future rape victim centers.