Guide V-081

Sexual Attitude Reassessment

Lewis Durham, Ted McIlvenna, Rick Chilgren1968San Francisco, USA
Client cardCompare
[source: …] where a claim comes from[uncertain] not confirmed in a primary source[synthesis] the writer's reconstruction

1. Introduction

Version followed: the current AASECT-recognised SAR (minimum 14 hours of process-oriented seminar combining lecture, media, experiential activities and small-group discussion), with its two historical roots, the National Sex Forum "Sexual Attitude Restructuring" (San Francisco, 1968) and the University of Minnesota Program in Human Sexuality "Sexual Attitude Reassessment" (renamed 1971). Britton & Dunlap (2017) is the main published design manual; only its description and table of contents are drawn on, not its text. [source: AASECT SAR event page; Briggs oral history; Routledge book page]

What it is, stated plainly. A SAR is not a therapy for clients. It is a structured group training for sexuality professionals (therapists, counsellors, educators, physicians, coaches) about their own attitudes. AASECT describes it as a seminar that uses lecture, media, experiential methods, activities and small-group discussion so participants can explore their own attitudes, values, feelings and beliefs about sexuality. AASECT also says it is neither a traditional academic course nor psychotherapy. Completing one is a requirement for AASECT certification as a sexuality educator, counsellor or therapist. [source: AASECT SAR event page; AASECT Sexuality Counselor application 2022] This guide is therefore written for (a) a psychotherapist attending a SAR and using it in clinical work, and (b) a clinician who co-facilitates small groups in a SAR or designs one. Anything about using SAR principles directly with clients is marked [synthesis].

How change happens (core idea). Participants are exposed to a wide range of sexual expression, much of it in sexually explicit media. They then process their own reactions (arousal, disgust, judgement, anxiety, curiosity, boredom) in a small peer group. This makes their unexamined attitudes visible, so they can stop acting them out with clients as judgement, distancing, rescuing or avoidance. The stated aim is awareness and comfort, not changing anyone's values. Mary Briggs explains the 1971 rename from "Restructuring" to "Reassessment" this way: "We didn't want to be restructuring anybody." [source: Briggs oral history p. 8; Eros Coaching SAR page; AASECT SAR event page] Stayton (1998, cited by AASECT) warns that professionals cast as "the expert" may know less about some sexual practices than their clients. Sitron & Dyson (2009, cited by AASECT) call the SAR a "routine training intervention for sexuality professionals". [source: AASECT SAR event page; neither paper drawn on, uncertain]

Origins. The National Sex Forum was founded in 1968 at the Glide Urban Center in San Francisco under Lewis Durham and Ted McIlvenna, with support from Phyllis Lyon, Laird Sutton and Joel Fort. It was first set up to train clergy, and it produced 16mm explicit educational films, including a "Sexual Attitude Restructuring" series. It later became the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality (IASHS, 1976). [source: Wikipedia, IASHS] In 1970 the American Lutheran Church brought McIlvenna and Sutton to Minneapolis. Rick Chilgren then led University of Minnesota pilots (Nolte Center, August 1970). In April 1971 medical students were included and the name became "Reassessment". From May 1971 the SAR was required for sophomore medical students. The Program in Human Sexuality was founded in October 1971 and ran SARs in a "pillow room" with roughly a dozen projectors on three walls. [source: Briggs oral history pp. 6–10] Hospital-based disability SARs ran from 1973 (Halstead & Halstead 1983). [source: Springer abstract]

2. Framework

The SAR is a single intensive event, not a course of sessions. There is no published phase model of the whole SAR in the sources. Halstead & Halstead (1983) published a six-stage model of the small group within a SAR (below). [source: AASECT; Halstead abstract]

Format and dose

  • At least 14 hours, usually two consecutive days of about 7 hours each (for example Saturday and Sunday, 9:00–5:00 or 9:00–6:00). [source: AASECT SAR event page; SSHA "What is a SAR"; Positive Sexuality listing (Britton & Dunlap 2011, 14 CEs)]
  • The Minnesota medical-school SAR also ran over two days. [source: Briggs p. 30]
  • Delivered in person, including residential or retreat formats, or online and synchronous. AASECT itself listed a synchronous online 14-hour SAR in 2024. [source: AASECT SAR event page; Eros Coaching; SSHA]
  • Some programmes split it into a SAR I (7 hours, a prerequisite) and a SAR II. [source: Council for Relationships]
  • "Advanced" SARs held in field settings such as swingers' clubs or sex resorts require permission and are recommended only after a standard SAR. [source: SSHA]

Typical day architecture. The sources show the elements but not a fixed order, so the cycle below is inferred from Briggs's account of brief talks before or between film segments, each followed by small-group discussion. [source: Briggs p. 8] [synthesis for the order]

  1. Opening: welcome, ground rules, confidentiality, how to opt out of viewing and stay in the process. [source: Eros Coaching]
  2. Repeated cycles on each topic: a lecturette, then media (explicit and non-explicit), then experiential activity, then small-group processing.
  3. Closing: integration, then the move back into professional roles.

Topics named in sources. Relationships and couples; orgasm difficulties; intersectionality; kink/BDSM; gender and sexual diversity; youth sexuality; disability; ageing (nursing-home staff SARs); possibly sexual violence in media. [source: SSHA; Halstead; Aja 1982; Council for Relationships]

Small-group stages (Halstead & Halstead 1983). Anticipation, then Rebellion, Confluence, Differentiation, Connection and Termination. For each stage the authors describe typical group behaviour, intervention strategies, facilitative activities and the facilitator's role. Only the abstract is drawn on, so the stage content below is [synthesis] built from the stage names. [source: Springer abstract]

  • Anticipation: anxiety about what will be shown and disclosed. Facilitator: structure, safety, introductions.
  • Rebellion: criticism of the material or the leaders, jokes, intellectualising. Facilitator: welcome the protest as data rather than defending the material.
  • Confluence: the group settles into apparent consensus. Facilitator: invite the reactions that differ.
  • Differentiation: members own different values. Facilitator: protect each member's right to their own values.
  • Connection: real disclosure and mutual respect.
  • Termination: integration and the move back to the professional role.

Criteria for moving on. Progress is set by the timetable, not by individual readiness. Within the small group, moving on is signalled when members speak about their own reactions instead of describing the material [synthesis]. Completion requires full attendance and participation. [source: Eros Coaching] For AASECT, the participant documents the SAR (title, sponsor or leader, date, hours, certificate) and writes a one-page statement of professional philosophy that includes how the SAR affected it. [source: AASECT Sexuality Counselor application 2022]

Who leads. Usually AASECT-certified educators or supervisors. Britton & Dunlap had led 43 SARs in seven countries by 2017. The AASECT application form sets no facilitator qualification; it only asks for the sponsor or leader's name. [source: Eros Coaching; Routledge; AASECT application]

3. Guiding principles

  • Reassess, don't restructure. The goal is to examine attitudes, not to convert people. In practice, never push a participant towards a "correct" value. [source: Briggs p. 8]
  • Not therapy, not a lecture course. Keep the work on reactions and how they bear on practice. Refer out personal clinical material rather than treating it in the group. [source: AASECT; Eros Coaching]
  • Feelings over facts. Didactic input is limited to brief lecturettes. Most of the time goes to the experience and processing it. [source: AASECT]
  • Explicit media is deliberate. Exposure to real, varied sexual expression is considered necessary for self-awareness and comfort, so don't sanitise it into diagrams. [source: Council for Relationships; Wikipedia SAR] Contemporary SARs favour media showing "naturalistic, undirected patterns of sexual expression". [source: AASECT] Choose educational, real-people material over commercial pornography. [source: Briggs p. 6]
  • The small group is essential. Treat processing time as the core of the SAR, not an add-on. [source: AASECT; Halstead]
  • Group effectiveness "does not happen automatically". Facilitators need real group skills and an understanding of the context. [source: Halstead abstract]
  • Self-managed boundaries with continued participation. Participants may decline to view any material but stay in the process and discussion. [source: Eros Coaching]
  • Confidentiality and respect for different identities, experiences and viewpoints are entry conditions. [source: Eros Coaching]
  • The professional's attitudes affect treatment. Every reaction is examined for how it would show up with a client (judgement, distancing, rescuing, avoidance, or a gap between stated values and gut reactions). [source: Eros Coaching; Council for Relationships]
  • Humility about expertise. Expect clients to know more than you about some practices. Stay curious. [source: AASECT citing Stayton 1998]
  • Screen before entry. A pre-acceptance interview may be required. [source: Eros Coaching]
  • Support those who leave the room. Have staff ready to talk with anyone who walks out. [source: Briggs p. 21]

4. Intervention inventory

The SAR components documented in the sources are: screening, ground rules, lecturettes, explicit and non-explicit media, experiential activities, small-group processing, guided reflection, a "sensorium", walk-out support, population-specific and advanced variants, and the post-SAR philosophy statement. The sources name these components but do not script them, so step-by-step detail is mostly [synthesis] and is marked as such. The 21 toolkit elements in Britton & Dunlap (2017, ch. 6) are not drawn on here [uncertain], and none is reproduced or guessed here. No component involves physical or sexual touch between participants or by facilitators. [source: AASECT; Eros Coaching; Briggs; Halstead; SSHA; Council for Relationships]

4.1 Pre-acceptance screening and informed consent

  • Purpose / when: Before enrolment. Confirms that the applicant understands that explicit media is used, checks fit, and flags anyone for whom the SAR could be destabilising. Some leaders require an interview before accepting, including for non-professionals. [source: Eros Coaching]
  • Steps [synthesis]:
    1. Send a written description that names the explicit media, the possible inclusion of sexual violence, the attendance requirement and the opt-out rule. [source for content warnings: Council for Relationships]
    2. Hold a short interview covering professional role and reason for attending, prior SARs, and current life stressors.
    3. Ask whether anything in the planned topics is likely to be overwhelming. Do not require trauma disclosure.
    4. Agree a personal plan for stepping out, and get written consent.
    5. Defer applicants in acute crisis.
  • Example language (illustrative): "You'll see real people in explicit sexual situations, some of which may be outside your experience or values. You can look away or step out at any point, but we'll ask you to join the group discussion afterwards. What, if anything, concerns you about that?"
  • Watch for: Applicants who want the SAR as personal therapy, recent sexual trauma that is actively destabilising, or anyone attending only under pressure from an employer. Screening is working when there are few walkouts and no one is surprised by the content.

4.2 Opening and the group contract (ground rules)

  • Purpose / when: The first hour, to create safety for disclosure. The documented rules are: confidentiality; respect for different identities, experiences and viewpoints; full participation as a condition of completion; and participants managing their own boundaries while staying engaged. [source: Eros Coaching]
  • Steps [synthesis for sequence]:
    1. Welcome everyone and state that this is not therapy and not a lecture course. [source: AASECT; Eros Coaching]
    2. Read the ground rules aloud and get each person's verbal agreement.
    3. Explain the opt-out rule: you may decline to view, but you stay in the process. [source: Eros Coaching]
    4. Name where support is available (a staff member outside the room). [source: Briggs p. 21]
    5. Run brief introductions in the small groups.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Over the next two days, what you notice in yourself is the curriculum. Nothing you feel here is wrong; the question is how it would show up with a client."
  • Watch for: Joking or bravado (anticipatory anxiety; Halstead's Anticipation stage) [synthesis]. Signs it is working: people start talking about their reactions by the first small group.

4.3 Lecturettes ("raps")

  • Purpose / when: Brief framing before or between media segments, giving just enough information to orient the viewing. They are deliberately not the main content. [source: AASECT ("brief lecturettes"); Briggs p. 8 ("raps")]
  • Steps [synthesis]: Keep each to about 10–15 minutes. Introduce the topic (for example ageing and sexuality, or kink), give a few facts that counter common myths, name the reactions the media may stir, and pose one reflective question for the group.
  • Example language (illustrative): "As you watch this next segment on older couples, notice the first word that comes to mind, and hold onto it for your group."
  • Watch for: Lectures that grow into seminars, which lets the group flee into intellectualising.

4.4 Sexually explicit media segments

  • Purpose / when: The core stimulus. Showing real, varied sexual expression brings up participants' actual reactions, not their stated views. Contemporary SARs favour "naturalistic, undirected" material. [source: AASECT] Historically, the National Sex Forum and Minnesota showed educational films of real people on several screens at once (about a dozen projectors on three walls), which Briggs describes as "not pornographic in any way". [source: Briggs pp. 6, 10] Content can include nudity, diverse sexual expression and possibly sexual violence. [source: Council for Relationships]
  • Steps [synthesis]:
    1. Choose material that is lawful, made with documented consent, and shows adults only. Cover a range of bodies, ages, abilities, genders, orientations and practices.
    2. Preview everything yourself.
    3. Announce each segment's content (and any violence) before showing it.
    4. Show the segment (one screen or several).
    5. Allow a short silent pause.
    6. Move straight into small-group processing (4.7).
  • Example language (illustrative): "This segment includes consensual BDSM. If you need to look away, that's fine; please come back to the room for the discussion."
  • Watch for: Dissociation, distress, laughter, or one person leaving and then others following. When it is working, participants can name a specific reaction and link it to a client scenario. Risk flag: unannounced sexual-violence content and pressure to keep watching can re-traumatise. Always announce such content and honour the opt-out [synthesis].

4.5 Non-explicit and implicit media

  • Purpose / when: To widen the frame (relationships, identity, disability, ageing) without graphic behaviour, and as a graduated lead-in to explicit material. AASECT lists "sexually explicit and non-sexually explicit films". [source: AASECT] Aja (1982) compared implicit and explicit SAR materials with nursing-home staff, both modelled on the National Sex Forum process. The outcome is not given [uncertain]. [source: W&M ScholarWorks record]
  • Steps [synthesis]: Use interviews and documentary clips early in the day. Pair them with the explicit segments on the same topic. Process both in the same way.
  • Example language (illustrative): "What changed for you between hearing this couple talk about their sex life and seeing it?"
  • Watch for: Relief at non-explicit material is a reaction worth exploring in itself.

4.6 Structured experiential activities

  • Purpose / when: AASECT and the Eros Coaching SAR list "experiential methods, activities" and "structured experiential exercises" alongside media. Council for Relationships says these activities aim to deepen reflection. None of the sources names or describes specific exercises [uncertain]. [source: AASECT; Eros Coaching; Council for Relationships]
  • Steps: Not given in the sources. Commonly used values-clarification formats (for example, standing along a continuum in response to a statement, or a reflective journal prompt about early messages received about sex) are general group-education techniques, offered here as [synthesis] rather than as documented SAR exercises. Whatever the format, keep it verbal and reflective, keep it voluntary at the level of disclosure, and debrief it in the small group.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Write down one message about sex you absorbed growing up, and one way it might still show up in your office."
  • Watch for: Activities that push participants to disclose personal sexual history. Disclosure should be invited, never required [synthesis].

4.7 Small-group processing (the core)

  • Purpose / when: After every media or activity block. It turns raw reactions into professional self-knowledge. AASECT calls it "essential to the SAR process". Briggs called the facilitated discussion of feelings and reactions central. Council for Relationships adds that the small group is where participants practise professional and interpersonal communication skills. [source: AASECT; Briggs p. 8; Council for Relationships] Some programmes cap group size. [source: SSHA]
  • Steps [synthesis, built on the documented purpose]:
    1. Use the same 6–10 members and the same facilitator throughout.
    2. Open with a round: "one word for what you felt".
    3. Ask members to describe body and emotional reactions (arousal, disgust, boredom, anxiety, envy, tenderness) before any opinions about the material.
    4. Explore where each reaction came from (family, faith, culture, experience) without pressing for personal sexual history.
    5. Bridge to practice: "If a client described this, what would you say or avoid saying?"
    6. Close with each person naming one take-away.
  • Stage-sensitive facilitation (Halstead & Halstead 1983). Stage names are from the source; the facilitator moves are [synthesis].
    • Anticipation: give structure and model disclosure at a low level.
    • Rebellion: invite the critique ("what is the objection protecting?").
    • Confluence: test the false consensus ("does anyone see it differently?").
    • Differentiation: protect the dissenters and the person holding a minority value.
    • Connection: deepen the bridge to practice.
    • Termination: summarise and re-enter professional roles.
  • Example language (illustrative): "You said the scene was 'degrading'. What happened in you just before that word arrived?" / "How would that reaction show on your face with a client who enjoys this?"
  • Watch for: Debating the ethics of the film instead of owning reactions; one member dominating; scapegoating of a member who shares a stigmatised identity or practice. Signs it is working: members name the gap between their stated values and their gut reaction, and translate it into a client behaviour to monitor. [source: Eros Coaching for the reaction categories]

4.8 Guided reflection

  • Purpose / when: Listed separately from small-group discussion as a SAR component, typically at transitions and at the close of a day. [source: Eros Coaching]
  • Steps [synthesis]: Give 5–10 minutes of quiet, solitary reflection or journalling to a prompt that links the day's reactions to practice. The writing is private and is not collected.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Which client of yours came to mind today, and what would you do differently with them?"
  • Watch for: Rumination or distress in the evening, so check in the next morning.

4.9 Sensorium

  • Purpose / when: The Eros Coaching SAR schedules a two-hour evening "Sensorium" as part of the SAR process. Its content is not described [uncertain], and nothing about it is inferred here. Historically, the National Sex Forum/IASHS milieu drew criticism for its nudity and bodywork and erotic-massage techniques. Clinicians should confirm before attending that any such session involves no touch, nudity or sexual contact. [source: Eros Coaching; Wikipedia IASHS]

4.10 Walk-out support

  • Purpose / when: In Minnesota SARs some participants left mid-session, so staff were posted to talk with them. [source: Briggs p. 21]
  • Steps [synthesis]:
    1. Assign a named support person outside the room.
    2. Offer a quiet space, grounding and a brief talk.
    3. Give a choice: rejoin the group discussion, skip the segment but stay in the process, or withdraw with a plan for follow-up.
    4. Document the outcome, and follow up within a week if the person withdrew.
  • Example language (illustrative): "You did exactly what you were invited to do: you looked after yourself. Would it help to come back for the discussion, even if you don't watch?"
  • Watch for: Trauma activation versus values-based refusal. Respond to both with respect, and offer a referral for trauma activation.

4.11 Population-specific SARs

  • Purpose / when: Tailoring the SAR to a professional or patient group. Documented variants:
    • Medical students: compulsory at Minnesota from 1971 to fill a gap left by pathology-focused teaching. [source: Briggs pp. 5, 9]
    • Disability SARs: open to people with physical disabilities, health professionals and community members together, run in a hospital from 1973. [source: Halstead abstract]
    • Nursing-home staff, on sexuality in older adults. [source: Aja 1982]
    • Clergy and faith communities (the National Sex Forum's original audience; also Lutheran sponsorship in Minnesota). [source: Wikipedia IASHS; Briggs]
    • A 1975 "family SAR" in Mabel, Minnesota was disrupted after day one by local opposition. [source: Briggs p. 30]
  • Steps [synthesis]: Choose media and lecturettes for the population. With mixed patient and professional groups, agree in advance how roles and confidentiality will work.
  • Watch for: In mixed groups, professionals "treating" the disabled participants, or patients being asked to educate. Facilitators of disability SARs need group-process skills specific to that context. [source: Halstead abstract]

4.12 Online synchronous SAR

  • Purpose / when: Live, real-time remote delivery. It has been used by AASECT and others. [source: AASECT SAR event page; SSHA]
  • Steps [synthesis]:
    1. Confirm each participant has a private location with no minors present and no shared screens.
    2. Use breakout rooms for the small groups, with the same membership throughout.
    3. Cameras on during processing.
    4. Agree a private-chat signal for stepping away, and have a co-facilitator follow up with anyone who drops off.
    5. Be aware that platform terms and local law on transmitting explicit media vary [uncertain].
  • Watch for: Disengagement behind a muted camera, and confidentiality breaches through the participant's environment.

4.13 SAR II and advanced or field SARs

  • Purpose / when: Further work after a first SAR. Council for Relationships runs a 7-hour SAR II that requires SAR I. Advanced SARs held in settings such as swingers' clubs or sex resorts require permission and are recommended only after a standard SAR. [source: Council for Relationships; SSHA]
  • Steps: Not described in the sources [uncertain]. For a clinician attending one [synthesis]: confirm the venue's consent, that observation is non-participatory, the confidentiality rules for venue patrons, and that the event fits your licensing board's rules on dual relationships.
  • Watch for: Blurring of the observer and participant roles. Risk flag: any expectation that trainees take part sexually is a boundary violation, not SAR training [synthesis].

4.14 Post-SAR integration: the professional philosophy statement

  • Purpose / when: After the SAR. AASECT certification asks for a one-page statement of your professional philosophy and goals of sexuality counselling, including how the SAR affected that philosophy, together with SAR documentation. [source: AASECT Sexuality Counselor application 2022]
  • Steps [synthesis]:
    1. Within two weeks, list the three strongest reactions you had.
    2. Name for each the client behaviour it could produce (judging, distancing, rescuing, avoiding).
    3. State the stance you commit to.
    4. Draft the statement and take it to supervision.
  • Example language (illustrative, self-talk): "My discomfort with non-monogamy could make me steer couples to 'fix' it. I will ask about their agreements before assuming a problem."
  • Watch for: Statements that list topics without naming any personal reaction.

4.15 Carrying the SAR into clinical work

  • Purpose / when: Britton & Dunlap (2017) describe readers incorporating "The SAR Approach" into their practice. The method itself is not drawn on here [uncertain]. [source: Routledge] What follows is [synthesis] for a psychotherapist.
  • Steps:
    1. Before sessions on sexual material, briefly check your own reactions.
    2. Ask open, non-assuming questions about sexual practices, and ask the client to define their terms.
    3. Notice SAR-identified reactions in session (a flinch, changing the subject, over-reassuring) and take them to supervision.
    4. Refer the client on when a value conflict impairs care.
    5. Do not show clients explicit media as "a SAR". The SAR is a professional training, not a client intervention.
  • Example language (illustrative): "I want to make sure I understand what this means for you. Can you tell me what happens when you two do that?"
  • Watch for: Clients taking more risks in disclosing sexual information over time is a sign it is working.

5. Handling problems

The sources document only three problems: walkouts (Briggs), external opposition (Briggs) and the need for skilled small-group facilitation (Halstead). Everything else below is [synthesis].

  • Walkouts and refusal to view. Have a support person outside the room, and offer the opt-out-but-stay-in-the-process route (see 4.10). [source: Briggs p. 21; Eros Coaching] Treat a values-based refusal as legitimate data for the group, not as failure. [synthesis]
  • Trauma activation or overwhelm [synthesis]:
    1. Stop the participant's exposure (look away or leave the room) and ground them.
    2. Separate the SAR from treatment: do not process the trauma in the group.
    3. Agree whether to continue, and refer for individual therapy if needed.
    4. Prevention: content warnings for sexual violence [source: Council for Relationships], screening (4.1), and no surprise segments.
  • Intellectualising and debating the material (stuck group). Redirect to first-person reactions ("before the opinion, what did you feel?"). This is expected in the Rebellion and Confluence stages. [stage names: Halstead; moves: synthesis]
  • Hostility toward leaders or content. Expect it, and do not defend the film. Explore what the objection protects. Escalate only if ground rules are broken. [synthesis] Historically, SARs drew organised opposition: letters to administrators, threats, scrutiny from the Board of Regents, and a community-level shutdown in 1975. Institutional sponsorship and clear educational framing matter. [source: Briggs pp. 21–30]
  • A participant uses the group as personal therapy. Acknowledge the material, link it back to professional practice, and offer a referral after the session. Remind the group the SAR "is not therapy". [source: AASECT; Eros Coaching; synthesis for steps]
  • Scapegoating or microaggressions toward a member (for example a queer, kink-identified, disabled or religious member). Intervene immediately, restate the respect rule [source: Eros Coaching], and stop the member from being made to educate the group. Debrief privately afterwards. [synthesis]
  • Non-participation (silent, camera off, partial attendance). Full participation is required for completion. [source: Eros Coaching] Check in privately. If attendance falls short, do not certify the hours. [synthesis]
  • Rupture between a participant and the facilitator (for example the participant feels shamed). Repair openly: name the moment, take responsibility for your part, and ask what would help. [synthesis]
  • Arousal-related shame. Normalise arousal as one reaction among many. The point is to notice it and keep it out of the clinical frame, not to suppress it. [synthesis]
  • Religious or cultural value conflict. The aim is awareness, not conversion ("We didn't want to be restructuring anybody"). [source: Briggs p. 8] Help the participant work out how to hold their values while still giving clients non-judgemental care, or recognise when to refer. Some faith-based providers offer SAR-adjacent training with religious guidance. [source: NEFESH listing; synthesis]
  • Boundary risks specific to this modality. Criticism of IASHS included nudity, bodywork and erotic massage in training. [source: Wikipedia IASHS] Any SAR element involving trainee nudity, touch or sexual participation, or social or sexual contact between facilitators and trainees, falls outside the SAR as AASECT defines it (lecture, media, activities, discussion). Decline such an element and report it to the sponsoring certification body. [synthesis] Check that media was made with consent and shows adults only. [synthesis]
  • Facilitator skill deficits. Small-group effectiveness "does not happen automatically". Use trained co-facilitators and run facilitator debriefs between blocks. [source: Halstead abstract; synthesis for debriefs]
  • Online-specific problems (drop-outs, privacy). Have the co-facilitator follow up by private message, and confirm the participant's environment is private at the start of each day. [synthesis]
  • After the SAR: lingering distress or new self-knowledge (for example about one's own sexuality). Expect strong emotions afterwards: Briggs reports participants often became emotional and found new feelings. [source: Briggs pp. 8–9] Provide follow-up contacts and encourage supervision or personal therapy. [synthesis]

Sources

Sources:

Further reading (text not drawn on unless stated):

  • Britton, P., & Dunlap, R. (2017). Designing and Leading a Successful SAR: A Guide for Sex Therapists, Sexuality Educators, and Sexologists. Routledge. (Description and table of contents only.)
  • Halstead, L. S., & Halstead, K. (1983). Disability SARs and the small group experience: A conceptual framework. Sexuality and Disability, 6, 183–196. (Abstract only.)
  • Aja, A. M. C. (1982). Alternate methods of changing nursing home staff attitudes toward sexual behavior in the aged. Ed.D. dissertation, College of William & Mary. (Abstract only.)
  • Sitron, J. A., & Dyson, D. A. (2009). Cited via AASECT; not drawn on.
  • Stayton, W. R. (1998). Cited via AASECT; not drawn on.