NCJ Number
194949
Journal
Child Abuse Review Volume: 11 Issue: 2 Dated: March-April 2002 Pages: 103-123
Date Published
2002
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This article presents a comparison of the efficacy of group and individual therapy versus individual therapy only for the psychological treatment of child sexual abuse victims.
Abstract
The article presents the authors' study comparing the efficacy of treatment programs using individual psychological therapy only versus the efficacy of a treatment regimen using both individual and group therapy components in the psychological treatment of victims of child sexual abuse. Data was collected through two administrations of four mental health research instruments, specifically, the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL), the Youth Self Report form (YSR), the Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI), and the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSCC). The first administration was given to each subject just prior to a subject’s commencement of therapy and the second administration was given 6 months into the therapeutic regimen. Both treatment types led to improvements in the psychological health of research subjects. However, the children who participated in a program including both group and individual therapy showed improved CDI ineffectiveness scores, leading the authors to conclude that both therapeutic approaches, the use of individual therapy only or the use of individual and group therapy, were roughly equally effective treatment options after 6 months of services. 7 tables, 28 references