This study explores future mental health providers’ assumptions about minor-attracted people, using data from a survey of 200 students preparing for entry into social service professions at a public university in the state of Utah. Survey results show that more than half of the students believe clients who identify themselves as pedophiles must be automatically reported to the police, which has implications for providers’ understandings about the term “pedophile,” as well as their knowledge of guidelines for when clinicians may break client confidentiality. This belief was not significantly affected by taking ethics courses, nor courses that discussed mandated reporting guidelines. Despite this finding, 91% of students did not believe that they would need to report a client who had attractions to children, but who had never committed a sexual offense against a child. The majority of students indicated a willingness to work with minor-attracted clients, and commonly indicated in comments that they wanted more information about MAPs and when to break client confidentiality in their programs of study. Study results indicate a need for education among social service students about these issues.

本研究使用来自犹他州一所公立大学准备进入社会服务专业的 200 名学生的调查数据，探讨未来心理健康提供者对未成年人的假设。调查结果表明，超过一半的学生认为，必须自动向警方报告自称为恋童癖的客户，这对提供者对“恋童癖”一词的理解以及他们对临床医生何时可能采取的指导方针的了解都有影响。破坏客户机密。这种信念并未因参加道德课程或讨论强制性报告准则的课程而受到显着影响。尽管有这一发现，91% 的学生认为他们不需要举报对儿童有兴趣的客户，但从未对儿童犯过性罪行。大多数学生表示愿意与受未成年人吸引的客户一起工作，并且通常在评论中表示他们想要更多关于 MAP 的信息以及何时在他们的学习计划中打破客户机密。研究结果表明，需要对社会服务学生进行有关这些问题的教育。