Child report of treatment issue resolution: Pilot of a rapid assessment instrument

Abstract

The goals of this project concerned the construction and pilot of a rapid assessment self-report measurement tool to be used with child and adolescent sexual abuse victims to ascertain the effectiveness of psychotherapeutic intervention. One hundred and three 10 to 17-year-old girls who had been the targets of intrafamilial child sexual abuse (incest) participated in the research. Child and adolescent participants completed the draft instrument, the Child Report of Treatment Issue Resolution, as well as the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children and the Children's Social Desirability Questionnaire. The research participants' caretakers completed the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist and a background questionnaire. Reliability of the study instrument was found to be .94. Content validity was quantified through a process of expert ratings of individual item relevance. Criterion and construct validity are supported by a substantial correlation between the study instrument and the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (−.74) and a moderate correlation between the study instrument and the Child Behavior Checklist for Children (−.40). The correlation between the study instrument and the Children's Social Desirability Questionnaire (.45) did not provide evidence of discriminate validity.