Change in psychotherapy for sexual abuse: The voice of children and adolescents

The aim of this presentation is to describe narratives of change related to psychotherapy, during therapy and at the end of the process, in children and adolescents that had been sexually abused, including their perspectives. ... [ view full abstract ]

The aim of this presentation is to describe narratives of change related to psychotherapy, during therapy and at the end of the process, in children and adolescents that had been sexually abused, including their perspectives.
This research, with a qualitative approach, involves in depth interviews, complemented by drawings, to children and adolescents aged 6 to 18 years old that were involved in a psychotherapeutic process at specialized centers in Chile, due to have suffered sexual abuse. Two samples with similar characteristics were collected. The first one includes 10 children and adolescents, who were interviewed between 6 to 10 months after therapy started and before it ended. The second sample includes 20 children and adolescents who have recently successfully finished their therapy, after an average time of 2 years. Data was analyzed through thematic narrative analysis. First, data of each of the samples were analyzed separately, and then results from both samples, were compared.
Main results show a common view in both groups, related with visualizing psychotherapeutic change as a process, with a progressive improvement, which gives ground to a latter work. Also, aspects that favor and the ones that hinder this process are pointed out. Some of these elements are related to personal, familiar and therapy´s factors, which get more or less relevance depending on the phase of psychotherapy the child or adolescent is going through. Changes related with giving a new meaning to the abusive experience mostly appears in children and adolescents at the end of their treatment. At 6-10 months of therapy, recognizing changes in symptomatology remission is prominent.
It is concluded about the importance of considering the way of looking psychotherapeutic change from the perspective of children and adolescents at different moments. This allows generating psychotherapeutic strategies that are sensitive to their needs and timings they value.