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Extrafamilial Child Sexual Abuse: Family-Focused Intervention (From Child Trauma I Issues and Research, P 307-333, 1992, Ann Wolbert Burgess, ed. -- See NCJ-137060)

NCJ Number
137071
Author(s)
C R Hartman; A G Burgess; A W Burgess; S J Kelley
Date Published
1992
Length
27 pages
Annotation
In an effort to explore the relationship of distressed states in parents following disclosure of extrafamilial child sexual abuse, a secondary analysis was performed on a data set of 41 cases that involved sexual abuse in day care settings.
Abstract
The objective of the secondary analysis was to determine what factors predicted symptoms in each of the subjects: child, mother, and father. The study drew on parents' descriptions of the stressful event and proposed three domains of intervention. The analysis indicates an interaction between the mother's symptoms and the child's symptoms; however, the strongest interaction was between the mother and father, with the child having a slight negative interaction with the father's symptoms. This study concludes that one way to reduce the abused child's symptoms is to reduce parent symptoms. The three levels of the recommended family-focused intervention program are family crisis intervention, individual trauma therapy, and group treatment. Family crisis intervention, which typically consists of short-term therapy of up to 12 sessions, helps parents to understand how their own reactions to the abuse are elaborated and sustained in their thinking, so they can begin to decide what treatment they need. Once the family has been mobilized and symptoms evaluated, an individual therapy-focused plan can be constructed. In this modality, symptoms are carefully monitored and managed. The goal of group intervention is to strengthen and augment trauma therapy by linking the child and family to a group modality. This can include psychoeducational groups, marital counseling, sibling groups, family therapy, and parent groups. 12 tables and 23 references