Two-year follow-up study of cognitive behavioral therapy for sexually abused children suffering post-traumatic stress symptoms

Objective: The present study sought to determine whether the 12-session pre - to posttest therapeutic gains that had been found by Deblinger, Lippmann, and Steer (1996) for an initial sample of 100 sexually abused children suf fering posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms would be sustained 2 y ears after treatment. Method: These sexually abused children, along with their nonoffending mothe rs, had been randomly assigned to one of three cognitive-behavioral treatme nt conditions, child only, mother only, or mother and child, or a community comparison condition, and were followed for 3 months, 6 months, I year, an d 2 years after treatment. Results: A series of repeated MANCOVAs, controlling for the pre-test scores , indicated that for the three measures of psychopathology that had signifi cantly decreased in the original study (i.e., externalizing behavior proble ms, depression; and PTSD symptoms), these measures at 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, and 2 years were comparable to the posttest scores. Conclusions: These findings suggest that the pre- to post-treatment improve ments held across the 2-year follow-up period. The clinical and research im plications of these findings are discussed. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd.