Cognitive Behavioral Groups for Nonoffending Mothers and their Young Sexually Abused Children: A Preliminary Treatment Outcome Study

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effectiveness of concurrent 11-week cognitive behavioral groups for 19 nonoffending mothers and their young sexually abused children. Evaluation included standardized assessment of maternal distress levels and maternal reports of children's behavioral functioning at initial contact, pretreatment, post-treatment, and 3-month follow-up. A series of one-way repeated measures ANOVAs indicated significant decreases in parental distress and children's sexual behaviors across evaluations. Post-hoc analyses suggest that these improvements occurred as a function of group participation and were maintained at follow-up.

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