A TREATMENT OUTCOME STUDY FOR SEXUALLY ABUSED PRESCHOOL-CHILDREN - INITIAL FINDINGS

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.