NCJ Number
108741
Journal
Journal of Family Violence Volume: 2 Issue: 4 Dated: (December 1987) Pages: 303-318
Date Published
1987
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This paper provides an overview and critique of child sexual abuse treatment programs and modalities, highlighting their achievements and limitations.
Abstract
Given the clinical complexities inherent in the initiation, implementation, and termination of treatment (e.g., placement, prosecution, protection) for cases of child sexual victimization, much diversity exists in the objectives, scope, and content of therapeutic services. Programs differentially emphasize individual or group treatment of the abuser or victim and may include family therapy, preschool training, art and play therapy, skills training, parenting groups, parent-child interaction therapy, psychopharmacology, and parent education and training. Some programs involve multidisciplinary, multitherapeutic approaches. Recent interest has focused on helping the child cope with the effects of victimization following its disclosure. Attempts also have been made to increase parental awareness of the signs of abuse and strategies for dealing with the sequelae of abuse. Evaluating the effectiveness of such programs is difficult because of professional, practical, and methodological problems. Positive results have been reported for multimodal programs that incorporate dyadic or group and family components and for those incorporating offender treatment and court intervention. 64 references.