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Original Articles

The Maryland Task Force to Study Health Professional-Client Sexual Exploitation: Building Understanding and Facilitating Change Through Collaboration

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Pages 236-243 | Published online: 21 Jan 2015
 

Abstract

A task force was legislated in Maryland in 1993, comprising 7 consumers, 9 health professionals (each from a different profession or specialty), 2 attorneys, 4 legislators, and 2 clergy. A year of study by the task force and its 5 work groups included literature searches; statewide public hearings; and meetings with offenders, victim-survivors, licensing boards, and expert consultants. During its 2nd year, the task force developed and reported on 54 recommendations related to professional and public education; offender rehabilitation; victim recovery; administrative (licensing), civil, and criminal law; and health institution guidelines. The task force took a comprehensive approach, both through its breadth of membership and its attention to the full range of interventions—prevention, recovery, rehabilitation, legal remedies, and institutional policies and procedures. A successor implementation committee produced a consumer education booklet and was instrumental in the passage of a law in 1998 that defines sexual misconduct in licensing regulation and requires annual reports on incidence and disposition of cases. The implementation committee also arranged to have the task force's report, an educational booklet, and a new statute posted on the Web (http://www.advocateweb.org/hope). A survey of task force members and literature on community mobilization suggest that the following factors are important to the success of such efforts: a passion for action; clarity and feasibility of goals; community organizational experience; collaborative effort; effective communication; empowerment and recognition of all participants; sustained, effective leadership; effective organization; and administrative support.

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