Child sexual abuse is a societal problem of alarming proportions with serious implications for the mental health of its young victims. Recent research suggests that parental support may be the single most important factor influencing sexually abused children's post-abuse adjustment. Unfortunately, following a CSA disclosure many nonoffending parents suffer considerable emotional distress themselves and are often completely unprepared to respond effectively to their children's abuse- related disclosures and difficulties. While group therapy programs designed to assist these nonoffending parents are widespread, there have been no rigorously designed and controlled studies evaluating the efficacy of these interventions. The proposed research seeks to refine and test alternate group therapy programs for this population.
The specific aims of the proposed research are to: (1) Refine our previously developed cognitive behavioral parent group manual and develop a supportive counseling parent group manual; (2) Develop and test therapist competency and adherence measures; (3) Evaluate the relative impact of cognitive behavioral versus supportive counseling parent groups on the psychological adjustment and patenting practices of nonoffending mothers of sexually abused children; (4) Evaluate the relative impact of the alternative parent groups on their sexually abused children's psychological adjustment, and sexualized behaviors; (5) Identify sociodemographic and coping variables that may influence parents' participation in the programs and the impact of the alternate treatments. Subjects in this study will be nonoffending mothers of children aged 2 to 8 who have suffered contact child sexual abuse. All children will participate in a standard children's group emphasizing coping and abuse response skills training. Parents will participate in either a cognitive behavioral or supportive counseling parent group. The type of parent group provided will be randomly determined. The evaluation will include: standardized assessments of parents' coping styles, distress levels and patenting practices; maternal and Other Caretaker reports of children's psychological functioning, and sexualized behaviors, direct observations of parents' and Children's affect, skills and behaviors by treatment condition blind raters. The assessments will be conducted at pretreatment, post-treatment and three month follow-up. Investigation will also identify sociodemographic and coping variables that may moderate parents' participation in the group programs and the impact of the alternate treatments. The interventions proposed are replicable and if effective can be applied in a wide range of settings to minimize the traumatic impact of sexual abuse on young children and their nonoffending parents.
| Deblinger, Esther; Pollio, Elisabeth; Dorsey, Shannon (2016) Applying Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy in Group Format. Child Maltreat 21:59-73 |
| Deblinger, E; Stauffer, L B; Steer, R A (2001) Comparative efficacies of supportive and cognitive behavioral group therapies for young children who have been sexually abused and their nonoffending mothers. Child Maltreat 6:332-43 |
