Guidelines for the Psychosocial Treatment of Intrafamilial Child Physical andSexual Abuse

摘要

A mission of the Office for Victims of Crime of the U.S. Department of Justice isdeveloping training and practice materials for police, prosecutors and court personnel on steps that can be taken to improve the criminal justice response to children exposed to violence. Thousands of abused children and their families become involved with the criminal justice system each year, and they often are some of the most difficult cases to manage. A critical function of victim advocacy is to insure that crime victims receive the support and intervention they need to remedy the effects of crime. Victims who receive appropriate support are better able to be cooperative with the criminal justice system, which enables the system to do its job more effectively and efficiently. Child abuse is a crime that frequently results in serious mental health problems for victims. Therefore, helping child abuse victims receive the mental health treatment they need is an important component of victim advocacy with children, and benefits both the children and the criminal justice system. As part of this work, the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center at the Medical University of South Carolina and the Center for Sexual Assault and Traumatic Stress at the Harborview Medical Center conducted a collaborative project with the Office for Victims of Crime to develop guidelines for the mental health assessment and treatment of child victims of Intrafamilial sexual and physical abuse and their families. Many children are treated each year for mental health problems associated with abuse. However, it is unclear how many of the therapists treating these children are knowledgeable and skilled in state-of-the-art treatment methods and how many of these children actually receive it. The primary purpose of this project was to encourage the use of mental health treatment protocols and procedures that have a sound theoretical basis, strong clinical and empirical support for their effectiveness, high acceptance among practitioners in the field, and a low chance for causing harm. To accomplish this purpose, practitioners in the field need information about available treatments and direction concerning appropriate treatment methods. These guidelines seek to present the best available information about the mental health treatment of cases of Intrafamilial physical and sexual abuse in a concise and consistent format that can be easily used by practitioners and other interested professionals.