| In the early 1990s experts in the field of child sexual abuse suggested that one in four girls and one in 10 boys would experience some form of unwanted sexual activity before they turned 18 years old. As years have passed, researchers have reported that child sexual abuse is still a growing concern and the child's emotional, physical, and cognitive wellbeing is highly affected. Many children who are victims of abuse can experience a number of hardships including depression and even posttraumatic stress disorder. There can also be damage to the child's self-image or perception and abused children may also present symptoms of sexualized behavior. The effects for children who are victims of sexual abuse can be overwhelming. However, there has been concern for the parent whose child has been a victim of sexual abuse. The mother's response following the disclosure of abuse is very important to study because the mother's emotional functioning following the disclosure has an impact on the abused child's recovery. The current study aimed at examining therapists' opinions on appropriate treatment orientations for sexually abused children and the nonoffending mother. The study also examined how a therapist confidence and competence influences the outcome in treatment. For the first five hypotheses, the relationship between the variables was not significant and null hypothesis was not rejected due to there not being enough evidence to support the study's claim. For the sixth hypothesis, the study rejected the null hypothesis, because there was evidence that supported the study's claim. |
