Social Skills Training for Abused Girls: Interpersonal Skills Training for Sexually Abused Girls

Abstract

Four sexually abused girls participated in a 12-session group training program focused on improving interpersonal problems identified by the girls' teachers. Prior to and following the intervention, the girls underwent role-play assessment of their behaviour in relevant social situations with peers and teachers, and completed a self-report measures of perceived self-concept. For two of the girls, teachers completed checklists of their behavioural functioning before and after the intervention. On the role-play measure, the girls showed improvement on all of the trained behaviours (with peers and teachers), and evidenced behavioural improvements on untrained (generalisation) scenes. In addition, the girls reported improvements in perceived academic competence, peer functioning, appearance, and global self-concept following the training program. The study provides an example of a behavioural skills-training approach to address interpersonal deficits that may be shown by sexually abused children. © 1993, Cambridge University Press. All rights reserved.