An Evaluation of a Group Treatment for Sexually Abused Young Children

ABSTRACT

The present study measured outcomes of a group treatment for five-to eight-year-old sexually abused children. Although research completed in the last 10 years has produced some outcome studies on the effectiveness of group treatment for this population, no previous research has measured the effectiveness of psychoeducational interventions, such as the teaching of sexual information and abuse prevention strategies which are often included in this type of treatment. Also, the effects of different lengths of treatment have not been studied. The results of the current study found that children improved significantly from pre-treatment to mid-treatment on measures of problematic behavior, sexual information and abuse prevention. The children also made significant improvements from mid-treatment to post-treatment and from pre-treatment to post-treatment on all of the outcome measures with the exception of mid-treatment to post-treatment changes on the maternal acceptance self-esteem subscale. These results suggest that young children do benefit from a sexual abuse group treatment and that a longer treatment may be more beneficial.