An Exploratory Study of Group Therapy for Sexually Abused Adolescents and Nonoffending Guardians

ABSTRACT

Adolescent survivors of sexual abuse frequently report severe trauma, depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem. While cognitive-behavioral group interventions show promise, interpreting efficacy is problematic due to commonly high attrition. This article reports promising exploratory study findings relating to a 12-week multimodal abuse-specific group intervention with a nonoffending parent/caregiver component. Participants (aged 11–16 years) consisted of six adolescents with severe abuse histories, and their caregivers. Participants completed pre-, post-, and 1-month follow-up measures. The results were consistent with the possibility that the program produced clinically meaningful reductions in abuse-related psychological sequelae, the program had excellent face validity with participants, and there were no dropouts.

KEYWORDS:

• Adolescent
• sexual abuse
• intervention
• group

This article was written while the second author was receiving an NHMRC Career Development Award and was completed in partial fulfilment of the first author's master's degree. The authors thank Michael Grace, Rochelle Matacz, Lara Healy, Tracey Hunter, and Leah Van der Blom, for assistance in the development and administration of the intervention.