Sexologist: The professional activities related to sexual assault and intimate partner violence in Québec

SummaryThis study presents the first part of a larger research project interested in the overall professional practice of graduates of the Department of Sexology at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). Its objectives were to describe the professional activities of these graduates in relation with sexual assault (SA) and intimate partner violence (IPV). Results indicate that more than half of sexology graduates devote a portion of their professional activities to SA and/or IPV and that over 20% of them spend at least a quarter of their time on these issues. Counselling and clinical practices are the fields primarily exercised in more than 50% of these activities. Most of these graduates work with victims and half with perpetrators. They mainly work in private practice or in work environments that do not specialize in the field of SA or IPV. Most have done an internship related to SA and/or IPV as part of their university education and nearly half attended a continuing education activity dealing with one or both of these issues. Few of the participants presented an interest in continuing education activities related to SA and IPV. The main themes reported were directly related to the clinical and counselling practices, while subjects of empirical and theoretical nature were less stated. This descriptive study brings knowledge about the work of graduates of the Department of Sexology at UQAM in regards to SA and IPV and demonstrates the importance of these issues in the profession of sexologist in Québec.