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Background:Counselling young children referred for sexualised behaviour can challenge therapists' ideas about childhood and sexuality. This area of practice is complex and sensitive, and calls upon collaboration with a range of significant adults in children's lives.Purpose:This paper examines a researcher's process of movement from counselling practice into qualitative research practice, and the use of reflexive questioning to explore ethical issues within the study.Design:Shaped by social constructionist ideas and discourse theory, ethical questions are outlined within the design stage of a doctoral research project on sexuality in children's lives in Aotearoa New Zealand.Limitations:This paper explores ethics in the design of a current study: there are no results or conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Children who engage in perceived sexual actions face possible marginalization, isolation and exclusion in schools. The author's counselling practice included numerous examples where effects of adults' understanding have led to over reactive and punitive responses on children. This article complements a political ethic of social justice and supporting children's agency--that is, children as actors and childhood as being and becoming. Teachers and parents of primary school children were interviewed as part of a current doctoral project on discourses of childhood sexuality in Aotearoa, New Zealand. In focus groups and individual interviews, six teachers and seven parents of children in one primary school responded to vignettes on children's actions designed from counselling and anecdotal evidence of children's experiences in New Zealand primary schools. Participants' thoughts, ideas and reflections, including personal stories, were stimulated by the vignettes. Their understandings and perceptions of sexuality in childhood are explored, and discursive positionings for children in both the vignettes and participants' responses are examined. The crisis for children is when school policy constrains understandings and experiences of childhood due to adult-centric constructions of sexuality without regard to multiple positions shaped by culture, community values, personal histories and ideas of childhood and sexuality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research in the area of children's sexuality is largely based on observational and retrospective studies. Childhood studies literature increasingly calls upon the inclusion of children's voices, yet with sensitive topics ethical positions often close research possibilities in the territories of children's worlds. Children are perceived as a vulnerable group, especially when the investigation focuses on their sexual development and activity – and it is perceived that this research area is too sensitive and potentially harmful to children. Within the context of beginning a qualitative study on children's sexuality in New Zealand (including interviews with children), this paper reviews a number of studies of childhood research. These studies provide a glimpse at how research focusing on children has been conducted, and explores ethical issues arising in such research. The significance of researcher reflexivity is acknowledged for ethical research practice. The paper concludes that in research on children's sexuality a process of ethical review is limited, and that researcher competence in sensitive investigations is required. Among other difficulties for this researcher (with a professional background in child and family therapy) is the vulnerability of being a man choosing to research children. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

higgins a., sharek d., nolan m., sheerin b., flanagan p., slaicuinaite s., mc donnell s. & walsh h. (2012) Mixed methods evaluation of an interdisciplinary sexuality education programme for staff working with people who have an acquired physical disability. Journal of Advanced Nursing 68(11), 2559-2569. Abstract Aim. To report a study evaluating the effectiveness of a 1-day interdisciplinary sexuality education programme for staff working with people with acquired physical disability. Background. Changes associated with an acquired physical disability can diminish a person's self-esteem, sense of attractiveness, relationships, and sexual functioning. Research suggests that people are dissatisfied with the quality of information and support around sexuality during their rehabilitation. Design. A mixed methods design was used, involving pretest and posttest questionnaires and interviews. Methods. Questionnaire data were analysed using descriptive statistics and paired samples t-tests to evaluate the effects of the programme on knowledge, skills, and comfort. Interview data were analyzed thematically, with particular emphasis on participants' opinions about the application of the course within practice. Participants were working in the area of acquired disability and rehabilitation, and were drawn from a number of disciplines. Data were collected between 2008-2009. Results. Comparison of the pre- and postmeasures, based on paired samples t-tests, showed that the programme statistically significantly increased participants' knowledge, skills, and comfort. Participants felt positive and enthusiastic about the programme and reported numerous incidents where they were more willing to raise issues for discussion and create a supportive listening space for patients to talk about their concerns around sexuality. Conclusion. Providing healthcare practitioners with a 1-day programme leads to positive changes in knowledge, skills, and comfort towards sexuality. Sexuality education may be an ideal topic for bringing practitioners together within an interdisciplinary education context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]