The Family Speaks: Family Members' Descriptions of Therapy for Sexual Abuse

Abstract

A qualitative study was conducted to look at family members' experiences of treatment for sexual abuse. A qualitative approach was selected over a quantitative approach for several reasons. First, little is known about the impact of family-centered treatment for abuse, and a qualitative approach seemed most suitable to the current exploration phase of the research. Second, qualitative research preserves the multiple perspectives represented by different family members, which is especially important in the case of sexual abuse, where the child and other nonoffending members' voices have often been silenced by the offender. Third, our brief qualitative method was minimally taxing and nonintrusive, an important consideration for families experiencing the emotional upheaval that accompanies abuse and its disclosure. Fourth, asking family members to write about their experiences in therapy may itself be therapeutic. Twenty-one families provided 267 descriptive statements of their therapy experiences. Qualitati...