Citation

Cohen JA, Mannarino AP. J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry 1997; 36(9): 1228-1235.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry, Allegheny University of the Health Sciences, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1997, American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry, Publisher Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1097/00004583-199709000-00015

PMID

9291724

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Treatment outcome in sexually abused preschool children was evaluated 6 and 12 months after treatment. METHOD: Forty-three sexually abused preschool children and their parents were evaluated 6 and 12 months after completion of either Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Sexually Abused Preschoolers (CBT-SAP) or nondirective supportive therapy (NST). Parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist, Child Sexual Behavior inventory, and Weekly Behavior Report to measure a variety of symptoms in their children. RESULTS: Repeated-measures analyses indicated that there were significant group by time interactions on several outcome measures from the beginning of the study to the end of the 12-month follow-up period, with the CBT-SAP group exhibiting significantly more improvement over time than the NST group. Clinical findings also indicated the superior effectiveness of CBT-SAP over NST in reducing sexually inappropriate behavior. CONCLUSIONS: Findings support the superior efficacy of CBT-SAP over NST in maintaining symptom reduction in the year after treatment completion. The importance of using cognitive-behavioral interventions for sexually inappropriate behaviors and including nonoffending parents in the treatment of sexually abused preschool children is discussed.

Language: en