Child Abuse Victims' Involvement in Community Agency Treatment: Service Correlates, Short-Term Outcomes, and Relationship to Reabuse

• NCJ Number: 202590
• Journal: Child Maltreatment Volume: 8 Issue: 4 Dated: November 2003 Pages: 273-287
• Author(s): David J. Kolko; Barbara L. Baumann; Nicola Caldwell
• Date Published: November 2003
• Length: 15 pages
• Grant Number(s): 90CA1547; MH59672
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Health and Human Services; National Institute of Mental Health
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article discusses the correlates and impacts of child treatment referred to community agency providers after reports of child physical or sexual abuse.

Abstract

This study examined the background and clinical correlates of child involvement in child-specific treatment in an effort to determine the characteristics of those child victims that receive such services. Several potential correlates, such as child and parent demographics, type and severity of the abusive incident, and child, parent, and family measures of clinical dysfunction, were evaluated. The impact of child treatment was examined by comparing the outcomes of those that did versus did not receive any child treatment on an array of clinical measures and in official reports of reabuse. Standardized clinical assessments were conducted with 68 child victims and their caregivers at intake and short-term follow-up (FUP-1), supplemented by official record reviews at a long-term follow-up (FUP-2). Results showed that few correlates of child involvement in treatment were identified. Children that received their own treatment showed no significant clinical improvements from intake to FUP-1 relative to those that did not. Child treatment was not associated with a lower rate of child placement or reabuse by FUP-2. There were few significant correlates of children’s clinical improvement on a composite variable reflecting abuse-specific outcomes. Few children received child treatment within 6 months of their intake either alone or in conjunction with another service. Children that received their own treatment tended more often to have been sexually abused and to have parents and families that received concurrent intervention services. Children that did versus those that did not receive their own treatment were comparable at intake on several demographic, abuse history, and clinical functioning measures. Short-term outcomes measures revealed no significant differences between those that did versus those that did not receive a child treatment service on several measures of clinical functioning ranging from posttraumatic stress disorder and depression to externalizing behavior. 5 tables, 46 references