The effects of disclosure and intervention on sexually abused children.

There has been concern that disclosure and intervention might negatively impact victims of sexual abuse. In this retrospective study, 82 children and their families were interviewed about their experiences with disclosure and intervention an average of 3.5 years later. The children and parents completed a measure of distress developed for the study which discriminated between abused and non-abused children. The children reported primarily favorable experiences and provided clinically helpful descriptions of the positive and negative aspects of intervention. More contacts with intervention professionals was associated with increased distress, placement, offender removal and testifying were not. Based on the children's comments, suggestions for improving the intervention process are made.

Child sexual abuse: awareness and backlash.

This article reviews the historical development of awareness about child sexual abuse and the counterreaction that this increasing awareness has often triggered. In particular, Conte discusses the current backlash against awareness of child sexual abuse, a reaction that he describes as characterized by extreme positions with lack of supporting data and near total rejection of knowledge and experiences of child sexual abuse. He urges all those who work professionally in the area of child sexual abuse to ensure that their opinions and actions are based on sound research and directed toward improving the lives of abused children.

Sexual abuse evaluations: conceptual and empirical obstacles.

Evaluating children for possible sexual abuse is widely regarded as a difficult clinical endeavor. Practitioners are concerned with both the basis for professional opinions and the accuracy of their ultimate judgments. Current approaches are critically analyzed for conceptual integrity and empirical support. The authors conclude that improvements in practice will be more productive than efforts to devise a procedure for classification of cases. Implications of this approach and recommendations for further research are discussed.

Evaluating children's reports of sexual abuse: results from a survey of professionals.

Two hundred and twelve professionals were surveyed on their assessment and validation procedures in cases of children's sexual abuse allegations. Specific questions garnered information about practices in interviewing children and accused adults, assessment protocols, criteria used to substantiate the allegations, and factors that might distort children's responses.

The therapist in child sexual abuse: the context of helping.

Professional response to childhood sexual abuse has evolved through three stages: (1) discovery of the problem, (2) identification of abuse victims and support for disclosure, and (3) emphasis on forensic issues. The importance of treating victims and offenders is emphasized, as opposed to overinvestment in the validation and prosecution of abuse allegations.

The process of victimization: the victims' perspective.

Twenty-three child victims (aged 10-18 years) of childhood sexual abuse were interviewed about the victimization process, the person who abused them, and how abuse might have been prevented. Specific questions obtained information about the quality of the relationship between victim and offender, the offender's pre-abuse behavior, the explanation for the behavior given by the offender, and the child's understanding of the behavior. Results suggest that the victimization process involves three overlapping processes: sexualization of the relationship, justification of the sexual contact, and maintenance of the child's cooperation.

What sexual offenders tell us about prevention strategies.

A sample of 20 adult sexual offenders were interviewed about the process whereby they selected, recruited and maintained children in a sexual abuse situation. Offenders were selected if they were making "successful" progress in treatment in order that they might be less likely to distort their descriptions. Offenders were interviewed by their therapist in a community treatment program using a semistructured interview guide. Results suggest that this sample of offenders claim a special ability to identify vulnerable children, to use that vulnerability to sexually use a child that sexual abuse is inherently coercive, even though many offender statements minimize the level of coercion and violence, and that offenders systematically desensitize children to touch. Implications for prevention of sexual abuse are highlighted.

Factors associated with an increased impact of child sexual abuse.

Data is presented identifying factors associated with the impact of sexual abuse on children. A group of 369 sexually abused children and a comparison group of 318 children recruited from the community were compared on a parent-completed behavior rating scale. Data describing the abused children were also available from a 38-item symptom checklist completed by the child's social worker. Using a score based on the symptom checklist as the measure of the impact of sexual abuse, 15 variables were in the final regression equation explaining 42% of the variance in impact. Using a score based on parent-generated data, 5 variables were in the final equation explaining 20% of the variance. The significance of the variables in identifying factors associated with an increased impact of abuse is discussed.

An analysis of programs to prevent the sexual victimization of children.

This paper provides a review and analysis of current programs to prevent sexual abuse of children. Seven aspects of prevention programming are discussed: prevention content, the length of the program, occupation of the trainer, prevention materials, training formats, types of abuse covered, and assertiveness and self-defense skills. Three potential problem areas prevention should address are also discussed. These include: the cognitive orientation of much prevention training, uncertainty surrounding what prevention content should actually be taught, and the need for quality assurance procedures.

An evaluation of a program to prevent the sexual victimization of young children.

Young children (ages 4 and 5) and school-aged children (6 to 10) from a day-care center were randomly assigned to a sexual abuse prevention training group and a wait-list control group. Children in the prevention training group were exposed to a three-hour program teaching common sexual abuse prevention concepts (e.g., the difference between OK and not-OK touches). Children in both groups were given a structured interview before and after the prevention group received training. Results of a repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance indicate that children in the prevention training group significantly increased their knowledge of prevention concepts while children in the control group did not. Older children learned more than younger children. Both younger and older children had greater difficulty learning prevention concepts of an abstract nature than concepts of a specific nature.

Single subject research in occupational therapy: a case illustration.

Three male children with behavior-disorders were treated by tactile, vestibular, and proprioceptive sensory stimulation in 20-minute sessions 3 times per week for a period ranging from 4-to-6 weeks. Attention to a mathematical computation task was measured for several sessions before the introduction of treatment and immediately after each treatment session. Attention was operationally defined as the total time spent attneding to the task during a ten-minute test period. Of the three subjects, one showed negligible change, one showed some performance improvement and a reduction in response variability, and the third showed improvement followed by performance deterioration, though not to original low baseline levels. Although improvments were coincident with the onset of treatment, they may not be attributed to it, because no response stability was achieved during the baseline condition.