NCJ Number
168528
Journal
Child Abuse Review Volume: 6 Issue: 3 Dated: August 1997 Pages: 163-177
Date Published
1997
Length
15 pages
Annotation
The progress of sexually abused children attending community-based treatment programs run by selected voluntary agencies in Great Britain was evaluated on several dimensions.
Abstract
The children were between the ages of 4 and 16 at the time of referral and had been identified by the referring agency as sexually abused. Most of the therapy was offered by specialist teams working in the National Health Service, Social Services departments, or voluntary agency at community-based centers. By the end of the treatment programs, improvement was apparent in the children's scores on the Children's Depression Inventory and self-esteem scores as well as in the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) reports from parents. Youth over the age of 11 years reported for themselves improvements in the CBCL total problem and internalizing scores, but no improvement was seen in the externalizing scores. The reasons why many therapists had difficulty providing all the necessary information were explored in interviews with senior managers. Suggestions are offered for improving the ways in which abused children's progress through treatment can be evaluated. 2 figures, 3 tables, and 26 references