Treatment in barnahus: Implementing combined treatment for children and parents in physical abuse cases

Abstract

This chapter addresses the psychological treatment for children who have experienced parental physical abuse, as reported to child welfare services. For children, physical abuse can increase the risk of both internal and external behavioural problems. Since abused children often continue to live with their parents, it is important to offer interventions to prevent further abuse and to improve the child’s well-being. In this chapter, we describe a specialised intervention, Combined Parent - Child Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CPC-CBT), for families at risk for child physical abuse, which has been implemented in several Swedish Barnahus over the last 9 years. We report the results from an ongoing research study into the effects of the intervention on the risk of victimisation, parenting strategies and child well-being. The results suggest that Barnahus is a suitable context for providing support for families and that CPC-CBT is an effective intervention.