(Finkelhor, 1986; Haugaard & Dickon Reppucci, 1988) have concluded that there is insufficient information on how to treat child sexual abuse (CSA). The reported incidence of CSA has substantially increased, hence, the need for treatment approaches has escalated. The purpose of this study was to provide clinicians who treat CSA with a descriptive account of the methods currently used by art therapists to treat sexually-abused children of differing ages who present with different issues. One hundred and forty-six certified and/or diplomaed art therapists, aged 26 to 66, who had training and experience in CSA treatment were solicited through the national art therapy associations in Canada and the United States. They responded to case-simulation surveys which consisted of a case history, photograph, and self-portrait of a hypothetical sexually abused girl aged 4, 8, or 13 who presented with either the issue of body image distortion or guilt. Open-ended or multiple choice research questions on the art therapist's treatment approach, choice of media, directives, use of time, use of therapeutic interactions, use of debriefing process, opinions on the function of art in the session, and method of evaluation were utilized to obtain a qualitative description of the art therapy approach to working with a child of a certain age presenting with a particular issue. A content analysis of the qualitative data resulted in the identification of thematic categories which described the goals, directives, debriefing process, and the function of art in the session. The responses to the questions on time use and media were analyzed similarly. The frequency of responses for the multiple choice answers and the thematic categories were calculated and then compared across the age and issue variables, in the form of percentages. A comprehensive clinical description of the art therapists' approaches to CSA treatment was obtained for the whole sample, and across age, and issue. The subjects' responses were paraphrased to illustrate these differences for each question. The main findings were: (a) art therapists addressed the main issues of CSA, as described by traditional verbal therapists (Sgroi, 1982), and employed both directive and nondirective styles in their approaches; (b) art therapists were sensitive to the developmental level of the child depicted in the case simulation and adapted their approach to meet the child's needs (i.e., the sessions with younger children were characterized by different media choices, and directives, the therapists spent more time being supportive and nurturing, provided physical contact, snacks, used art-as-therapy, spent less time discussing and more time playing and doing, allowing the child to work out her issues through using her body and the media whereas with the adolescents, art was used as psychotherapy and catharsis more frequently and discussion and debriefing were utilized to help change her thinking about the abuse experience), (c) art therapists responded differently to the body image distortion and guilt case simulations (i.e., activities designed to solicit representations of feelings and of the offender were more frequently reported for the guilt case simulations while self-portraits and safe places were more frequent in the responses to the body image distortion case simulations, and (d) the findings on the function of art in treating CSA replicated the earlier study by Marrion, Landell, and Bradley (1988). This study provided a clinical description of art therapists' approaches to treating CSA. It illustrated the function of the art directives, the use of media, the debriefing process, and the art products themselves. The descriptions of these may aid clinicians in understanding how this sample of art therapists worked with sexually-abused children and may prompt them to undertake training in this discipline as a way broadening their approach to working with sexually-abused children. / Graduate

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology in the Department of Psychology at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 1997. / Talking about child sexual abuse, hereafter referred to as CSA, makes a lot of people very uncomfortable. It has been defined as "the best kept secret", contributing to the maintenance of silence. For both men and women the prevalence of CSA is high among those seeking help for psychological problems. Theories relating to CSA include investigations into the causes, psychological effects on victims, treatment approaches and preventative strategies. Research in this area in a South African context is limited and in view of the fact that child abuse has reached staggering proportions in rural areas, it is important to investigate this phenomenon. Furthermore, it is understood that in KwaZulu-Natal traditional healers have multi-dimensional functions in traditional Zulu culture, with eighty percent of Zulu people consulting them before coming to modem healers. Conversely, there are instances where traditional and modern healers co-operate in areas of illness and health. The aim of this research therefore is exploratory in nature, seeking to understand and advance knowledge of CSA. The level of co-operation between the two systems where CSA is concerned is also investigated, with special contextual reference to South Africa in general and traditional KwaZulu Natal in particular. This research is a phenomenological explication of traditional healers’ views per se. In addition it indicates that to a limited degree, modern and traditional systems co-operate in the treatment of CSA in rural KwaZulu Natal.

No description available.

Extant research has revealed that the counselor’s response to the clients’ disclosure of child sexual abuse experiences have a significant impact on their wellbeing, continuation in therapy, and progress in treatment. Despite the growing body of literature on the need for more sensitive and professional responses to child sexual abuse disclosure, clients continue to report negative responses and experiences with counseling professionals. To date, few studies have investigated the counselor’s affective responses to a client who discloses a child sexual abuse history. The purpose of this study was to investigate the range of counselor’s affective responses when confronted with the topic of child sexual abuse and to investigate what factors influenced these reactions. Results of the current study indicated that counselors with a personal history with CSA scored similarly to those with no CSA history on the Affective Responses to Child Sexual Abuse Scale (ARCSAS). However, there was a statistically significant difference in affective responses by degree and CSA history. Counselors with a personal history of CSA and who held a master’s degree responded with greater sensitivity to the topic of CSA than those with a doctoral degree and no personal experience with child sexual abuse. Results of the study indicated that type of CSA training was not a statistically significant factor in affective responses to CSA; however, the amount of CSA training and increased experience with CSA clients did have a positive influence on counselors’ affective responses to CSA. The results of the factor analysis indicated that the ARCSAS was a moderate measure of counselor affective responses with a twoactor structure. The results of the study suggested that measuring affective responses to child sexual abuse is a complex and multidimensional construct with many variances. In addition, the findings of the study support the importance of counselors and counselorsin- training to be prepared prior to their first exposure to CSA clients to illicit more positive responses to CSA. Thus, the results of this study support the need for more child sexual abuse training and experience in order to deflect any negative responses on clients who disclose child sexual abuse.

Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is associated with various immediate and long-term effects, including interpersonal maladjustment. Research has demonstrated a relationship between CSA and subsequent parenting outcomes, such as feeling less confident in the parenting role or being more likely to use harsh discipline practices. The current study examined the relationship between CSA and subsequent parenting skills, specifically perceived parenting competence and parenting practices. This study also examined the potential internalizing, externalizing, and overall problems in children of mothers sexually abused in childhood. Taking into consideration the failure in the literature to account for the role of other variables in determining parenting difficulties, this study examined the mediational role of childhood physical abuse and maternal depression on the parenting outcomes of mothers. The findings of this study indicated that sexually abused mothers did not significantly differ from nonabused mothers in how effective they felt as mothers. Contrary to the hypotheses, the results did not suggest that CSA mothers were more lax or over reactive than their nonabused counterparts. However, the findings revealed that compared to nonabused mothers, sexually abused mothers were more likely to employ hostile parenting practices. In addition, the results of the current study revealed that CSA mothers who reported being more lax in their parenting were more likely to have children who exhibited more externalizing and internalizing behavior problems as compared to the control group. In contrast, there were no significant correlations found between the parenting practices of nonabused mothers and their children's behaviors. The results provided support for maternal depression as a mediator in the relationship between CSA and parenting practices, specifically over reactivity and hostility. Maternal depression did not mediate the relationship between CSA and maternal self-efficacy, or between CSA and laxness. This study found support for the role of childhood physical abuse (CPA) as a mediator in the link from CSA to hostile parenting. However, the findings did not suggest that CPA mediated the relationship between CSA and the other parenting outcomes under study. Possible interpretations of the results are presented. Clinical implications and directions for future research are also discussed.

No description available.

The sexual abuse of children is recognised worldwide as a problem of significant proportions. It is generally acknowledged that South Africa has one of the highest rates of sexual crime in the world. Despite high prevalence figures for child rape in South Africa, there has been no systematic attempt to explore the nature and scope of the problem in this country. The identification of factors which increase a child's risk for sexual abuse is of considerable importance in the design and implementation of appropriate prevention interventions. With this in mind, this investigation set out to identify psychosocial aspects associated with child sexual abuse in an urban sample of South African children. The main question that guided this investigation was: What were the psychosocial factors that might have contributed to the sexual abuse in the study sample? An integrated conceptual framework with some of the most frequently occurring etiologic factors across existing theoretical perspectives was used as a lens for understanding the various factors that might have contributed to child sexual abuse in the study sample? The identification of psychosocial aspects involved a file review of 245 cases of child sexual abuse reported to the Crisis Centre Unit at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital during the period of November 2002 - April 2003. The site for data collection for this study was the Durban Region which is located in KwaZulu Natal and which has the second highest incidence rate for child sexual abuse in South Africa. A recording sheet was completed by the researcher with which data from the sample of content was taken. A wide range of variables was tapped, including ethnic distribution, socioeconomic status of the family, age and sex distribution of the child, type of family constellation, relationship of perpetrator to the child and probable psychosocial factors or mechanisms that contributed towards the sexual abuse. Descriptive statistics and the chi-square test of significance were used to analyse the data. The results showed clearly that situational factors (absence of other adults at home, poor or no supervision, child alone or unprotected and abduction) appeared high on the list among the psychosocial aspects. Other factors included child factors (child mentally retarded), perpetrator factors (psychiatric illness, unemployment and drug and alcohol abuse) and parental factors (marital problems in parents). Though the results showed clearly that situational factors appeared high on the list among the reported probable factors, whatever information obtained through socioeconomic status, family constellation, ethnicity and relationship of perpetrator to the child has thrown some light on understanding the various factors related to child sexual abuse in a South African setting. Living in a housing condition that was not protective, living in a family with a low income and living in a broken family setup, all of which have been associated with higher risks of abuse, were factors that were prevalent in most cases in the study sample. The results of this study indicated that sexual abuse is a complex phenomenon caused by the interaction of a wide variety of equally complex variables which is congruent with the conceptual framework for this study (based on a content analysis of different theories) that views child sexual abuse as a complex multifactorial phenomenon and not a simplistic cause and effect event. The research, therefore, concludes with recommendations to policy makers on primary prevention of child sexual abuse. This would mean actively involving themselves in programmes that assist in the eradication of poverty and, provision of better housing, recreational and after-school care. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2004.

No description available.

This study attempts to empirically validate the fixated-regressed typology utilized in the child sexual abuse literature. The sample consisted of 136 consecutive cases of convicted child molesters tried in Pima County, Arizona over a two-year period (1984-1985) for whom case history, MMPI, pre-sentence reports, and police report data were collected prior to sentencing. Application of the criteria defining fixated versus regressed status yielded a unimodal and continuous distribution of child molesters, rather than the bimodal distribution predicted by theory. In a multiple regression analysis, three independent variables, i.e., whether the victim and offender were related, an offender's prior non-sex-criminal record, and offender age, significantly enhanced the accuracy of predicting an offender's degree of regression. Alternative conceptualizations to the fixated-regressed typology are described, and implications for understanding child molesters are discussed.

Sexual abuse of children has been a problem for decades not only in South Africa, but internationally. There is little evidence that any preventative measures are working effectively. In this study the focus was not on the victim but on the perpetrator of sexual abuse. The researcher aimed at enabling eight adult male sexual offenders to describe explicitly their lived experience of child sexual abuse. The study used a method in which offenders were asked to describe their feelings prior to, during the process and after sexually abusing the child. The researcher believed that verbalisation of how it feels to sexually abuse the child would augment the available knowledge about perpetrators. This information may be used in devising ways and means of minimising the occurrence of sexual abuse. It might serve as a springboard for professional 1 people working with offenders to uncover cognitive skills for sexual offenders to 4 use whenever having thoughts of sexually abusing the child. [i] Respondents were Blacks, Indians and Whites who had been sentenced and were in treatment programmes either at the Correctional Supervision Centre or at Childline in Durban. Treatment at these rehabilitation centres was a condition of sentence for all of them. Their ages ranged from 25-48 years. Five of them were married and three were single men. Svensson"s (1986) phenomenological method 'NaS used in analysing data. The findings of this study revealed that for these offenders the major contributing factors to this behaviour was a conflictual adult heterosexual relationship and the fact that other females have more than one sexual partner. Findings also revealed that children are experienced by sexual offenders as being satisfying sexually, non-judgemental, non-threatening and accepting. These findings were examined in relation to theory, their implications for future research, the strengths and shortcomings of the study were also described. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1999.