NCJ Number
156884
Journal
Child Abuse and Neglect Volume: 19 Issue: 9 Dated: (September 1995) Pages: 1145-1155
Date Published
1995
Length
11 pages
Annotation
The outcome of treatment for child sexual abuse was examined in 105 sexually abused children in California, 71 of whom completed 3 months of treatment or longer.
Abstract
Symptom change was measured with the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children and the Children's Depression Inventory, administered at 3-month intervals. The results revealed that most scales decreased after 3 months of therapy and, of these, all but dissociation continued to decline at one or more assessment periods thereafter. At 6 months, those remaining in therapy continued to decrease on the depression inventory and on the anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress, and sexual concerns scales of the other instrument. At 9 months, anxiety and posttraumatic stress continued to decrease. At 1 year, those still in treatment showed declines in anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress. These changes are hypothesized to be due to treatment itself, rather than merely as a result of the passage of time. In this regard, multiple regression analyses indicated that time from the end of abuse to either the beginning or the end of treatment was far less predictive of posttreatment scores on either scale than was the number of months specifically spent in treatment. Tables and 36 references (Author abstract modified)