Ja. Cohen et Ap. Mannarino, A TREATMENT OUTCOME STUDY FOR SEXUALLY ABUSED PRESCHOOL-CHILDREN - INITIAL FINDINGS, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 35(1), 1996, pp. 42-50
Objective: Treatment outcome for sexually abused preschool-age childre
n and their parents was assessed, comparing the effectiveness of a cog
nitive-behavioral intervention to nondirective supportive treatment. M
ethod: Sixty-seven sexually abused preschool children and their parent
s were randomly assigned to either (1) cognitive-behavioral therapy ad
apted for sexually abused preschool children (CBT-SAP) or (2) nondirec
tive supportive therapy (NST). Treatment consisted of 12 individual se
ssions for both the child and parent, monitored for integrity with the
therapeutic model through intensive training and supervision, use of
treatment manuals, and rating of audiotaped sessions. Parents complete
d the Child Behavior Checklist, the Child Sexual Behavior Inventory, a
nd the Weekly Behavior Report to measure a variety of emotional and be
havioral symptoms. Results: Within-group comparison of pretreatment an
d posttreatment outcome measures demonstrated that while the NST group
did not change significantly with regard to symptomatology, the CBT-S
AP group had highly significant symptomatic improvement on most outcom
e measures. Repeated-measures analyses of variance demonstrated group
x time interactions on some variables as well. Clinical findings also
supported the effectiveness of the CBT-SAP intervention over NST. Conc
lusions: Findings provide strong preliminary evidence for the effectiv
eness of a specific cognitive-behavioral treatment model for sexually
abused preschool children and their parents.