Treatment for Preschool Children With Interpersonal Sexual Behavior Problems: A Pilot Study

Abstract

This pilot study evaluated a 12-week group treatment program for preschool children with interpersonal sexual behavior problems (SBP; N = 85; 53 completed at least 8 sessions). Many children presented with co-occurring trauma symptoms and disruptive behaviors. In intent-to-treat analysis, a significant linear reduction in SBP due to number of treatment sessions attended was found, an effect that was independent of linear reductions affiliated with elapsed time. Under the assumption that treatment can have an incremental impact, more than one third of the variance was accounted for by treatment effects, with female and older children most favorably impacted. Caregivers reported increase in knowledge, satisfaction, and usefulness of treatment. In addition to replication, future research is needed to examine (a) effects of environment change and time on SBP, (b) stability of treatment effects, and (c) best practices to integrate evidence-based treatments for comorbid conditions.

This study was supported in part by a grant to Jane Silovsky from the Children's Medical Research Institute, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Clinical services were supported through a contract with the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. We acknowledge the contributions of Barbara L. Bonner, C. Eugene Walker, William N. Friedrich, and Mark Chaffin to this project. We also express our sincere thanks to the families, therapists, and research assistants involved with this project.

Notes

Note: N = 85. Values are n and % unless noted. PPVT–III = Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test–Third Edition.

Note: Pre-tx = Pretreatment; Post-tx = Posttreatment; CSBI–III-Child Sexual Behavior Inventory–III;PSI–SF = Parenting Stress Index–Short Form; CBCL = Child Behavior Checklist.

^a N = 85

^b n = 40

^c n = 47

^d Includes only participants with all three waves of data. Adjusted for total number of study weeks

¹Similar results emerged when considering intake scores as pretests for the 14 individuals who started treatment within 3 weeks of intake. The pretest and posttest means for this sample of 45 individuals were 29.11 and 16.27, respectively.

^a Parameter = 0

^b Age was mean centered

^c Gender was coding as − .58 for male and .42 for female, resulting in a mean of 0

^d Robust t test statistic for H₀

^e Chi-square test statistic for H₀