Mental health counselling for abused women What if I have problems waiting? This [i.e. re- ducing the waiting-time] is not so easy [for the paramedics]. They (i.e. the paramedics) have to folow the serial number. They are admitting people to the room one by one. It would always be this late if you go somewhere. … Why would I get annoyed? [Age 32 years, no education, middle-class, victim of emotional violence] The reported duration of each session, on average, was 54 minutes and ranged from 10 minutes to two hours and 25 minutes. Overall, the reported dura- tion of the session was one hour or more for 52% of the women while it was half an hour or less for 38% of the women. Interestingly, the desired dura- tion of the session was very close to the reported duration on average (58 minutes). About 61% of the women felt that the duration should be one hour or more while 30% thought that it should be half an hour or less. Ruma, a woman interviewed in-depth, appreciated the session extending to 30 minutes. She had the following interaction with the interviewer: Interviewer: Was that half an hour adequate for you? … Informant: It was all right. Could not be any better. … I could say everything I wanted. [Age 19 years, grade 6, non-poor, victim of physical violence] Although the length of the session was 90 minutes, Shahana was not annoyed as she was warned by the paramedic that the session might take a long time beforehand. She said, No, it did not get late. When she called me in, she informed me how long the session might continue. She informed me beforehand. … No. I was not annoyed. [Age 24 years, grade 8, non- poor, victim of emotional violence] There were also some women who were either par- tially or completely unhappy with the length of the session. Two of the 23 women who talked about duration of the session during the in-depth inter- view did not feel good about the session and felt irritated about spending a long time at the clinic. Shila was one of them. She said: I was takto (irritated/annoyed). ... I was annoyed that I left my child in the corridor. They took me to another room. ... The child was crying. Volume 27 | Number 4 | August 2009 Naved RT et al. She (paramedic) told me, “No problem. We gave him food, and he is now playing. I gave him toys as well. So, there is no problem. You just talk.” I told her, “Get this over quickly. I am getting annoyed worrying about the child. [Age 29 years, no education, poor, victim of physical and sexual violence] The total perceived time spent for availing of the ses- sion was not at all convenient for Latifa. Her state- ment shows that being away from the home for at- tending a clinic session might increase the risk of abuse by her husband. She was apprehensive of her husband getting aggressive and calling her names and hitting her. However, she did not tell the para- medic about her problems. Latifa put it as follows: She talked for a long time. I wanted to come home. I knew his father (her husband) would mukh larhbo (scold me). He would kilaibo (punch me) and parhaibo (tread on) me. He would call me names. He would call me chodani shali (fuck- er) and demand of me “why did you stay at the clinic for such a long time. [Age 40 years, no education, poor, victim of physical and sexual violence] Client satisfaction with privacy and confiden- tiality during counselling session Table 4 illustrates how privacy and confidentiality were evaluated by the women. About 38% of them had concerns regarding privacy before the session. The survey data showed that privacy was well- maintained. Nobody else was present during the session, except for cases where the supervisor of the paramedic or a child of the woman not older than two years was present. In 95% of the cases, the door Table 4. Evaluation of privacy and confidentiali- ty-related issues by women (n=372) Aspect of privacy Door was closed Yes No Anybody present beside the super- visor and a child aged <2 years? Yes No Attempt at keeping privacy Very good Good So so Not good Very bad Percentage 94.9 5.1 0.0 100.0 30.1 61.8 0.8 6.7 0.5 483