Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T05:17:33.779Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Are We There Yet?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 September 2017

Mary Jo Mc Veigh
Mary Jo Mc Veigh*
Affiliation:
Sydney University, NSW, Australia
*
address for correspondence: Mary Jo Mc Veigh, Sydney University, NSW, Australia. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The issue of what is ‘effective’ in therapeutic interventions with children and young people who have experienced maltreatment has attracted increasing professional interest since the 1980s. Currently, these interventions are subject to evaluative processes that privilege data collected from the adult experts, who design and deliver them. Measurements of effectiveness are predominantly based on a positivist paradigm, as indicated by the number of studies that use standardised measures to capture therapeutic success. An important concern is the neglect of children and young people's voices in the discussion of therapeutic efficacy.

This article presents the findings of a review of the literature, which revealed the continued privileging of adult ‘expert’ voices and the under-representation of the contributions from children and young people. However, when children and young people were engaged as active participants in evaluation processes, they were shown to demonstrate a depth of insight, which requires a reappraisal of adults as the only source of expertise in the effectiveness debate. The view that children and young people can be knowledge generators as well as active agents in their own healing is reflected by this article's proposals for future research partnerships with children and young people and changes to practice and policy development.

Keywords

child maltreatmenttherapyeffectivenesschildren's participation
Type
PART A: Part II of 2016 International Childhood Trauma Conference
Information
Children Australia , Volume 42 , Issue 3 , September 2017 , pp. 159 - 175
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allen, B., Timmer, S.G., & Urquiza, A.J. (2016). Parent-child interaction therapy for sexual concerns of maltreated children: A preliminary investigation. Child Abuse and Neglect, 56, 80–88.Google Scholar
Amos, J., Beal, S., & Furber, G. (2007). Parent and Child Therapy (PACT) in action: An attachment-based intervention for a six-year-old with a dual diagnosis. Australian New Zealand Family Therapy Journal, 28 (2), 61–70.Google Scholar
Arnold, E.M., Kirl, R.S., Roberts, A.C., Griffith, D.P., Meadows, K., Julian, L.P.C., & , J. (2002). Treatment of incarcerated, sexually-abused adolescent females: An outcome study. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 12 (1), 123–139.Google Scholar
Aubrey, C., & Dahl, S. (2006). Children's voices: The views of vulnerable children on their service providers and the relevance of service they receive. The British Journal of Social Work, 36 (1), 21–39.Google Scholar
Australian Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health & Parenting Research Centre (2014). Approaches targeting outcomes for children exposed to trauma rising from abuse and neglect. Evidence, practice and implications. Victoria: Australia.Google Scholar
Australian Institute of Family Studies. (2017). ‘What is child abuse and neglect?’ Canberra: Australian Government:. Retrieved from Aifs.gov.au/cfca/publications/what-child-abuse-and-neglect.Google Scholar
Avby, G., Nilsen, P., & Dahlgren, M.A. (2014). Ways of understanding evidence-based practice in social work: A qualitative study. British Journal of Social, 44 (1), 366–1383.Google Scholar
Beazley, H., Bessell, S., Ennew, J., & Waterson, R. (2009). The right to be properly researched: Research with children in a messy, real world. Children's Geography, 7 (4), 739–749.Google Scholar
Becker, K.D., Mathis, G., Mueller, C.W., Issari, K., & Atta, S.S. (2008). Community-based treatment outcomes for parents and children exposed to domestic violence. Journal of Emotional Abuse, 8 (1–2), 187–204.Google Scholar
Bradbury-Jones, C. (2014). Children as co-researchers: The need for protection. Edinburgh: Dunedin Academic Press.Google Scholar
Brown, A.D., McCauley, K., & Navalta, C.P. (2013). Trauma systems therapy in residential settings: Improving emotion regulation and the social environment of traumatized children and youth in congregate care. Journal of Family Violence, 28, 693–703.Google Scholar
Bryman, A. (2004). Social research method (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Cantos, A.L., & Gries, L.T. (2010). Therapy outcome with children in foster care: A longitudinal study. Child Adolescent Social Work Journal, 27, 133–149.Google Scholar
Capell, C., Lama, X., Rodríguez, Á.D., Beiza, G., Dussert, D., & Gutierrez, C. (2016). Winning a race: Narrative of healing and psychotherapy in children and adolescents who have been sexaully abused. Journal of Child Sexaul Abuse, 25 (1), 73–92.Google Scholar
Carrion, V.G., Kletter, H., Weems, C.F., Berry, R.R., & Rettger, J.P. (2013). Cue-Centered treatment for youth exposed to interpersonal violence: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 26, 654–662.Google Scholar
Cater, A.K. (2014). Chidlren's descriptions of participation processes in interventions for children exposed to intimate partner violence. Child Adolescent Social Work Journal, 31, 455–473.Google Scholar
Clausen, J.M., Ruff, S.C., Von Wiederhold, W., & Heineman, T.N. (2012). For as long as it takes. Psychoanalytic Social Work, 19 (1), 43–53.Google Scholar
Coholic, D., Lougheed, S., & Cadell, S. (2009). Exploring the helpfulness of arts-based methods with children living in foster care. Traumology, 15 (3), 64–71.Google Scholar
Coppock, V. (2002). Medicalising children's behaviour. In Franklin, B. (Ed.), The new handbook of children's rights: comparative policy and practice. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Daly, W. (2009). ‘Adding their flavour to the mix’: Involving children/young people in care in research design. Australian Social Work, 62 (4), 460–475.Google Scholar
D'Andrea, W., Bergholz, L., Fortunato, A., & Spinazzola, J. (2013). Play to the whistle: A pilot investigation of a sports-based intervention for traumatized girls in residential treatment. Journal of Family Violence, 28, 739–749.Google Scholar
Dietz, T.J., Davis, D., & Pennings, J. (2015). Evaluating animal-assisted therapy in group treatment for child sexual abuse. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 21, 665–683.Google Scholar
Duffany, A., & Panos, P.T. (2009). Outcome evaluation of a group treatment of sexually abused and reactive children. Research on Social Work Practice, 9 (3), 291–303.Google Scholar
Epstein, I. (2009). Promoting harmony where there is commonly conflict: Evidence-informed practice as an integrative strategy. Social Work in Health Care, 48, 216–231.Google Scholar
Feather, J.S., & Ronan, K.R. (2009).Trauma-focused CBT with maltreated children: A clinic-based evaluation of a new treatment manual. Australian Psychologist, 44 (3), 174–194.Google Scholar
Ford, T., Hamilton, H., Meltzer, H., & Goodman, R. (2008). Predictors of service use for mental health problems among British schoolchildren. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 13 (1), 32–40.Google Scholar
Foster, J.M., & Hagedorn, W.B. (2014). Through the eyes of the wounded: A narrative analysis of children's sexual abuse experiences and recovery process. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 23 (5), 538–557.Google Scholar
Frank, M. (2011). Pockets of participation: Revisiting child-centred participation research. Children and Society, 25, 15–25.Google Scholar
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Glad, K.A., Jensen, T.K., Holt, T., & Ormhaug, S.M. (2013). Exploring self-perceived growth in a clinical sample of severely traumatized youth. Child Abuse & Neglect, 37 (5), 331–42.Google Scholar
Goddard, C., Hunt, S., Broadley, K., Dibben, M., Frederick, J., Mudaly, N., & Newtown, R. (2014). The silencing of children in Australia. In Conte, Jon R. (Ed.), Child abuse and neglect worldwide. Volume 2; Understanding, defining and measuring child maltreatment. California: Praeger.Google Scholar
Gospodarevskaya, E., & Segal, L. (2012). Cost-utility analysis of different treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder in sexually abused children. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 6 (15), 1–14.Google Scholar
Graham-Bermann, S.A., Howell, K.H., Lilly, M., & DeVoe, E. (2011). Mediators and moderators of change in adjustment following intervention for children exposed to intimate partner violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 26 (9), 1815–1833.Google Scholar
Greene, S., & Hogan, D. (2005). Researching children's experience. London: SAGE.Google Scholar
Greig, A., Taylor, J., & Mackay, T. (2013). Doing research with children. A practical guide. London: SAGE.Google Scholar
Grip, K.K., Almqvist, K., Axberg, U., & Broberg, A.G. (2013). Children exposed to intimate partner violence and the reported effects of psychosocial interventions. Violence and Victims, 28 (4), 635–655.Google Scholar
Groundwater-Smith, S., Dockett, S., & Bottrell, D. (2015). Participatory research with children and young people. London: SAGE.Google Scholar
Grover, S. (2004). Why won't they listen to us? On giving power and voice to children participating in social research. Childhood, 11 (1), 81–93.Google Scholar
Habigzang, L.F., Damásio, B.F., & Koller, S.H. (2013). Impact evaluation of a cognitive behavioural group therapy model in Brazilian sexually abused girls. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 22, 173–190.Google Scholar
Head, B.W. (2008). Research and evaluation. Three lense of evidence-based policy. The Journal of Public Adminstration, 67 (1), 1–11.Google Scholar
Hill, L. (2015). ‘Don't make us talk!’ Listening to and learning from children/young people living with parental alcohol problems. Children & Society, 29, 344–354.Google Scholar
Hill, M., Davis, J., Prout, A., & Tisdall, K. (2004). Moving the participation agenda forward. Children & Society, 18, 77–96.Google Scholar
Hodge, D.R. (2001). Spiritual assessment: A review of major qualitative methods and a new framework for assessing spirituality. Social Work, 46 (3), 203–214.Google Scholar
Höjer, I., & Sjöblom, Y. (2014). Voices of 65 young people leaving care in Sweden: “There is so much I need to know”. Australian Social Work, 67 (1), 71–87.Google Scholar
Houghton, C. (2015). Young people's perspectives on participatory ethics: Agency, power and impact in domestic abuse research and policy-making. Child Abuse Review, 24, 235–248.Google Scholar
Hubel, G.S., Campbell, C., West, T., Friedenberg, M., Schreier, A., Flood, M.F., & Hansen, D.J. (2014). Towards strengthening social and family relationships in child sexual abuse victims. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 23, 304–325.Google Scholar
Ife, J. (2008). Human rights and social work. Towards rights-based practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ippen, C.G., Harris, W.W., Van Horn, P., & Lieberman, A.F. (2011). Traumatic and stressful events in early childhood: Can treatment help those at highest risk?. Child Abuse & Neglect, 35, 504–513.Google Scholar
Jackson, A., Frederico, M., Tanti, C., & Black, C. (2009). Exploring outcomes in a therapeutic service response to the emotional and mental health needs of children who have experienced abuse and neglect in Victoria, Australia. Child and Family Social, 14, 198–212.Google Scholar
Jagendorf, J., & Malekoff, A. (2000). Groups-on-the-go: Spontaneously formed mutual aid groups for adolescents in distress. Social Work with Groups, 22 (4), 15–32.Google Scholar
Jenkins, A. (2009). Becoming ethical. A parallel political journey with men who abuse. UK: Russell House Publishing.Google Scholar
Jensen, T. K. (2010). What constitutes a good working alliance in therapy in children who may have been sexually abused. Qualitative Social Work, 9 (4).Google Scholar
Johnston, J.R. (2008). Group interventions for children at-risk from family abuse and exposure to violence. Journal of Emotional Abuse, 3 (4), 203–226.Google Scholar
Johnston, S.B., & Pryce, J.M. (2013). Therapeutic mentoring: Reducing the impact of trauma for foster youth. Child Welfare, 92 (3), 9–25.Google Scholar
Johnston, V. (2010). In Percy-Smith, B. & Thomas, N. (Eds.), A handbook of children and young people's participation. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kagan, R., & Spinazzola, J. (2013). Therapeutic mentoring: Reducing the impact of trauma for foster youth. Journal of Family Violence, 28, 705–715 Google Scholar
Kempe, C.H., Silverman, F.N., Steele, F.N., Drogemuelle, W., & Silver, H.K. (1962). The battered child syndrome. Journal of the American Medical Association, 181 (1), 17–24.Google Scholar
Kendall-Tackett, K. (2014). The effects of childhood maltreatment and of exposure to early toxic stress. In Conte, Jon R. (Ed.), Child abuse and neglect worldwide. Volume 2; Understanding, defining and measuring child maltreatment. California: Praeger.Google Scholar
Kjellgren, C., Svedin, C.G., & Nilsson, D. (2013). Child physical abuse-experiences of combined treatment for children and their parents: A pilot study. Childcare in Practice, 19 (3), 275–294.Google Scholar
LeFrançois, B.A. (2008). “It's like mental torture”: Participation and mental health services. International Journal of Children's Rights, 16, 211–227.Google Scholar
Luttrell, W. (2013). Children's counter-narratives of care: Towards educational justice. Children and Society, 27, 2.Google Scholar
Mc Veigh, M.J. (2016). Article 12: An exploration of human right practices in trauma therapy with children and young people who have been exposed to domestic violence. Paper presented at the International Childhood Trauma Conference held by the Australian Childhood Foundation, Melbourne, Australia.Google Scholar
Mishna, F. (2007). Meeting them “Where They're At”: Intensive school-based psychotherapy for children who have been maltreated. Psychoanalytic Social Work, 14 (2), 15–42.Google Scholar
Mudaly, N., & Goddard, C. (2006). The truth is longer than a lie. Children's experiences of abuse and professional interventions. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.Google Scholar
Mullaly, B. (2010). Challenging oppression and confronting privilege. Oxford: University Press.Google Scholar
Nelson-Gardell, D. (2001). The voices of victims: Surviving child sexual abuse. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 18 (6), 401–416.Google Scholar
Nevo, I., & Slonim-Nevo, V. (2011). The myth of evidence-based practice: Towards evidence-informed practice. The British Journal of Social Work, 41, 1176–1197.Google Scholar
Neylan, J. (2008). Social policy and the authority of evidence. The Australian Journal of Public Adminstration, 76 (1), 12–19.Google Scholar
Nic Gabhainn, S., & Sixsmith, J. (2006). Children photographing well-being: Facilitating participation in research. Children & Society, 20, 249–259.Google Scholar
Painter, K., & Scannapieco, M. (2013). Child Maltreatment: The neurobiological aspects of posttraumatic stress disorder. Journal of Evidence Based Social Work, 10, 276–284.Google Scholar
Petersen, A.C., & Olsson, J.I. (2015). Calling evidence-based practice into question: Acknowledging phronetic knowledge in social work. British Journal of Social Work, 45, 1581–1595.Google Scholar
Powell, L., & Cheshire, A. (2010). A preliminary evaluation of a massage program for children who have been sexually abused and their nonabusing mothers. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 19, 141–155.Google Scholar
Purvis, K.B., McKenzie, L.B., Becker Razuri, E., Cross, D.R., & Buckwalter, K. A. (2014). Trust based intervention for complex developmental trauma: A case study from a residential treatment centre. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 31, 355–368.Google Scholar
Salloum, A., Dorsey, C.S., Swaidan, V.R., & Storch, E.A. (2015). Parents' and children's perception of parent-led trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy. Child Maltreatment and Neglect, 40, 12–23.Google Scholar
Sargeant, J., & Harcourt, D. (2012). Doing ethical research with children. Berkshire: McGraw Hill. Open University Press.Google Scholar
Shier, H. (2001). Pathways to participation: Openings, opportunities and obligations. A new model for enhancing children's participation in decision-making, in line with Article 12.1 of the United Nations convention on the rights of the child. Children & Society, 15, 107–117.Google Scholar
Shier, H., Méndez, M.H., Centeno, M., Arróloga, I., & González, M. (2014). How children and young people influence policy-makers: Lessons from Nicaragua. Children & Society, 28, 1–14.Google Scholar
Souza, A., Downey, C., & Byrne, J. (2013). ‘Making Pies’ – A way of exploring pupils’ views on curriculum innovation. Children & Society, 27, 385–396.Google Scholar
Springer, C., Misurell, J.R., & Hiller, A., (2012). Game-Based Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (GB-CBT) group program for children who have experienced sexual abuse: A three-month follow up investigation. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 21 (6), 646–664.Google Scholar
Streeck-Fischer, A., & van der Kolk, B. (2000). Down will come baby cradle and all: Diagnostic and therapeutic implications of chronic trauma in children. Australia and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 34 (6), 903–918.Google Scholar
Sudermann, M., Marshall, L., & Loosely, S. (2000). Evaluation of the London (Ontario) community group treatment programme for children who have witnessed woman maltreament. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 3 (1), 127–146.Google Scholar
Sunderland, H., & Young, A. (2014). Research with deaf children and not on them: A study of method and process. Children & Society, 28, 366–379.Google Scholar
Swenson, C.C., Schaeffer, C.M., Faldowski, R., Henggeler, S.W., & Mayhew, A.M. (2010). Multisystemic therapy for child abuse and neglect: A randomized effectiveness trial. Journal of Family Pyschology, 23 (4), 497–507.Google Scholar
Taylor, D. (2005). Governing through evidence: Participation and power in policy evaluation. Journal of Social Policy, 34 (4), 601–618.Google Scholar
Tomlinson, P. (2008). Assessing the needs of traumatized children to improve outcomes: Psychotherapeutic approaches in health, welfare and the community. Journal of Social Work Practice, 22 (3), 359–374.Google Scholar
Toth, S.L., & Manly, J.T. (2011). Bridging research and practice: Challenges and successes in implementing evidence-based preventive intervention strategies for child maltreatment. Child abuse & Neglect, 35, 633–636.Google Scholar
Tourigny, M., Herbert, M., Daigneault, I., & Simoneau, A.C. (2008). Efficacy of a group therapy for sexually abused adolescent girls. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 14 (4), 71–93.Google Scholar
Watson, D., & Feiler, A. (2014). Involving young disabled people in the research process: The experiences of the PIE research project team. Children & Society, 28, 316– 326.Google Scholar
Mc Whorter, L. (2004). Practicing. In Taylor, D. & Vintges, K. (Eds.), Feminism and the final foucault. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Winter, K. (2014). Understanding and supporting young children's transitions into state care: Schlossberg's transition framework and child-centred practice. The British Journal of Social Work, 44, 401–417.Google Scholar
Worrall-Davies, A., & Marino-Francis, F. (2008). Eliciting children's and young person's views of child and adolescent mental health services: A systemic review of best practice. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 13 (1), 9–15.Google Scholar
Zorella, K.P.M., Muller, R.T., & Cribbie, R.A. (2015). The relationships between therapeutic alliance and internalising and externalizing symptoms in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. Child Abuse and Neglect, 50, 171–181.Google Scholar