Citation

Wallis DA. Aust. N. Zeal. J. Psychiatry 2002; 36(1): 67-74.

Affiliation

Specialty Clinics, CCHS, 77 Holden Street, PO Box 361, Gosford, New South Wales 2250, Australia. dwallis@doh.health.nsw.gov

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

11929440

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: We examined the effect of a group programme for the treatment of adults suffering the sequelae of childhood abuse and/or neglect. Symptom reduction was the indicator of whether this group programme was an effective treatment modality. METHOD: This was an experimental field study using a prepost design and General Linear Model (GLM) analyses. The group programme was conducted for adult survivors of child abuse and neglect and took place at Specialty Clinics, Central Coast Mental Health Services. There were 83 participants, comprising 64 women and 19 men; 56 were in the experimental group, and 17 in the control (waitlist) group. The Trauma Symptom Inventory (TSI) was administered to both experimental and control groups prior to receiving treatment and again three months later. RESULTS: General Linear Model analyses indicated there was a reduction of trauma symptoms for the experimental group on seven of the 10 scales of the TSI and on the three composite scales; no similar reduction was found for the control group. CONCLUSIONS: The study indicates that this group programme may have been an effective treatment modality for abuse survivors. The level of symptomatology was reduced for those in the group programme compared with the control group for whom there were no changes.

Language: en