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Beyond Psychotherapy: Treating Abused Children by Changing Their Social Ecology

This document discusses treating abused children by addressing factors in their social environment rather than just through individual psychotherapy. It reviews literature on child sexual abuse, physical abuse, and neglect, emphasizing social ecological factors related to the occurrence of abuse, recovery, and interventions. These factors exist at the individual, family, community, and broader systemic levels. The authors suggest an intervention approach targeting multiple systems simultaneously, like the individual, family, school, and child protection services.

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68 views

Beyond Psychotherapy: Treating Abused Children by Changing Their Social Ecology

This document discusses treating abused children by addressing factors in their social environment rather than just through individual psychotherapy. It reviews literature on child sexual abuse, physical abuse, and neglect, emphasizing social ecological factors related to the occurrence of abuse, recovery, and interventions. These factors exist at the individual, family, community, and broader systemic levels. The authors suggest an intervention approach targeting multiple systems simultaneously, like the individual, family, school, and child protection services.

Uploaded by

Gentleman.z
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Beyond psychotherapy: Treating abused children by changing their

social ecology
Cynthia Cupit Swenson
a,
*
, Mark Chaffin
b
a
Family Services Research Center, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina,
67 President Street-Suite CPP, P.O. Box 250861, Charleston, SC 29425, United States
b
Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Department of Pediatrics, CHO 4B138,
P.O. Box 26901, Oklahoma City, OK 73190, United States
Received 1 June 2005; received in revised form 1 June 2005; accepted 14 July 2005
Available online 9 September 2005
Abstract
Historically, the child abuse field has approached intervention through individually focused child or adult psychotherapy. A
more comprehensive understanding of current research indicates that the field is moving beyond individually focused models.
Existing research on child sexual abuse, physical abuse, and neglect suggests that multiple factors within the childs social ecology
relate to the occurrence of abuse and to its mental health impact. This article reviews the literature on child sexual abuse, physical
abuse, and neglect with an emphasis on social ecological factors related to abuse, recovery and interventions. An approach to
intervention is suggested that emphasizes potential target areas and interventions from across multiple systems (e.g., individual,
family, school, child protection system).
D 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Social ecology; Abused children; Psychotherapy
Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
1.1. The person/situation debate in psychology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
2. Basic assumptions of a social ecological model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
3. A social ecological view of risk, protection, and intervention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
3.1. Child physical abuse and neglect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
3.1.1. Child factors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
3.1.2. Parent factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
3.1.3. Family factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
3.1.4. Community factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
3.1.5. Ecological factors related to abuse outcomes and interventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
1359-1789/$ - see front matter D 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.avb.2005.07.004
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: [email protected] (C.C. Swenson).
Aggression and Violent Behavior 11 (2006) 120137

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