Healing the wounds of sexual abuse: An evaluation of the effectiveness of the recovery and empowerment of survivors of sexual abuse (RES) programme for adolescent female victims

Objectives: Sexual abuse during childhood and adolescence is a significant mental health concern, with severe psychological sequelae potentially extending into adulthood if left unaddressed. However, little research has been... [ view full abstract ]

Objectives:
Sexual abuse during childhood and adolescence is a significant mental health concern, with severe psychological sequelae potentially extending into adulthood if left unaddressed. However, little research has been conducted on interventions aimed at promoting recovery from sexual abuse in Asia. The present study investigated the effectiveness of a locally developed programme—Recovery and Empowerment of Survivors for Sexual Abuse (RES)—in mitigating the negative effects of sexual abuse in adolescent female victims.

Methods:
Forty eight female youths under the care of the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF), Singapore, attended RES from 2010 to 2015. Participants were eligible for RES if they were 12 to 18 years of age, and had a history of sexual abuse. Psychometric measures for three outcomes of interest—(i) psychological trauma, (ii) depression, (iii) emotional and behavioural difficulties—were completed at three different time-points: baseline, post-programme, and three months after the programme (follow-up).

Results:
There were significant post-programme reductions in trauma-related symptoms, depression, and emotional difficulties compared to baseline, with mostly moderate effect sizes. Treatment gains were maintained at follow-up: scores at follow-up were lower than that at baseline, with large effect sizes. Further, post-hoc comparisons revealed no differences between post-programme and follow-up scores. Reliable change index (RCI) analyses revealed that most clients who reported more severe symptoms at baseline exhibited reductions in trauma-related symptoms, depression, and emotional difficulties after RES. No changes in behavioural difficulties were observed.

Conclusions:
The study findings provide support for the effectiveness of RES in facilitating psychological recovery following sexual abuse. In addition, treatment gains were maintained three months after the programme. Limitations to the study include the absence of a suitable comparison group, and low statistical power in analyses investigating maintenance of gains, owing to difficulties in obtaining follow-up data. Implications and future directions are discussed.