THE EFFICACY OF GROUP TREATMENT IN SEXUALLY ABUSED GIRLS

The efficacy of the outpatient, once a week group treatment of sexuall y abused girls was examined using a pre-post, matched control/treatmen t design. The 30 girls were 9-12 years old, within 1 year of trauma, a nd were screened for psychosis. The Quay Revised Behavioral Problem Ch ecklist (RBPC) and the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory (ECBI) were use d as dependent measures, and given 6 months apart. Depending on the sc ale, and excepting the RBPC's Psychotic Behavior Scale, 60-100% of the girls had abnormal scores pretreatment, with no significant differenc es between the two groups. Significant (p < .001) treatment effects we re found. After treatment, 0-33% of the treated girls had abnormal sco res, while 60-100% of the control group continued to have abnormal sco res. Assuming generalization is possible, it appears that this and sim ilar treatment programs are effective in reducing the girls' perceived problematical anxiety and misbehavior.