CHILD-ABUSE AND TREATMENT DIFFICULTY IN INPATIENT TREATMENT OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS

This study examined the associations between abuse and staff perceived treatment difficulty in sixty-nine hospitalized children and adolesce nts. Subjects were rated on a treatment difficulty scale, and clinical charts were reviewed for evidence of physical abuse, sexual abuse, be tween parents, and parental history of abuse. Subjects with histories of abuse were not rated as more difficult or less responsive to treatm ent than other patients. Physically abused youngsters were rated as mo re self-destructive and more accessible to treatment than non-abused c hildren, while sexually abused youngsters were self-destructive and de manding, and their families were seen as more distant and unavailable.