Examining the Effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Group Theray (CBGT) to Treat Major Psychological Problems of Sexually Abused Institutionalized Children

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to intervene major psychological problems of sexually abused children through Cognitive Behavioral Group Therapy (CBGT) and seeing its’ effectiveness. 28 participants aged 12-18 year old were selected purposefully based on inclusion criteria and randomly assigned into the control and treatment group, each with 14 participants. The research design was an equivalent control group pretest and posttest of an experimental design. Four standardized scales namely, the Children Depression Inventory(CDI), Child Posttraumatic  Stress Symptoms Scale(CPSS) Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and Beck Anxiety Scale were used to measure the dependent variables at two  occasions:  pretest  and  posttest.  Participants  in  the  treatment  group have received  CBGT  for  twelve  weeks,  two  days  per  week,  2:30  hours per session for a total of 24 sessions. The result indicated that sexually abused children found to have major psychological problems (Depression, PTSD, low Self-esteem and Anxiety). But those problems were significantly reduced and improved, depression (df=13, t=5.029,  p<0.05) , PTSD (df=13, t=3.068, p<0.05), Self esteem(df=13, t=-2.639, p<0.05)  and significant improvement in anxiety (df=13, t=5.407, p<0.05) as compared to the participants in control group after 24 consecutive sessions of  intervention made. From these results it is concluded that through CBGT it is possible to improve the psychological wellbeing of sexually abused children.

Key words:Group CBT, Effectiveness, Psychological Problems, Sexually Abuse, Institutionalized Children