The differential efficacies of supportive and cognitive behavioral group therapy models designed for young children (ages 2 to 8) who have experienced sexual abuse and their nonoffending mothers were compared. Forty-four mothers and their respective children participated in either supportive or cognitive behavioral therapy groups with the group format being randomly determined. Repeated measures MANOVAs indicated that compared to mothers who participated in the support groups, the mothers who participated in cognitive behavioral groups reported greater reductions at posttest in (a) their intrusive thoughts and (b) their negative parental emotional reactions regarding the sexual abuse. The children treated with cognitive behavioral therapy demonstrated greater improvement in their knowledge regarding body safety skills at posttest than did the children who received supportive therapy.

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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