İnvestigation of the effectiveness of the resilience program for adolescent girls who are victims of sexual abuse

İnvestigation of The Effectiveness of The Resilience Program for Adolescent Girls who are Victims of Sexual Abuse INTRODUCTION AND AIM: Child sexual abuse is defined as the participation of a child under the age of 18 in a sexual act by a person or persons older than him or her during childhood when he or she is not developmentally ready. The research was planned for adolescent girls due to the limited number of studies on psychological support of children after sexual abuse, the higher incidence rate in girls compared to boys, and the fact that they constitute a very special and sensitive group. The purpose of the study was to examine the efficiency of the psychological resilience program applied to adolescent girls in the form of group interaction. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The study was a randomized controlled trial with an experimental design and 38 children (19 in the intervention and 19 in the control group) who applied to the Child Advocacy Center due to sexual abuse, and 38 cohabiting (19 in the intervention and 19 in the control group) family members were included. A psychological resilience development program was applied to the intervention group (5 weeks with 2 sessions per week), and nointervention was made to the control group. In the study, the Resilience Attitude Scale and Skill Profile, The Resilience Scale, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire E form pre/post-test and follow-up test were applied to the children. Beck Depression Scale and Beck Anxiety Scale were applied simultaneously to the parents, and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire parents form to evaluate their children. RESULTS: As a result of the study, it was found that the psychological resilience development program applied caused a significant change in the total score of the Resilience Attitude Scale and Skill Profile and the relationships – values and independence – entrepreneurship dimension in the intervention group. Yet, while no significant change was observed in the measurements of the Resilience Scale in the intervention group, it was observed that the sub-dimension of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire E scale caused a decrease in behavioral issues and an increase in the social behavior score which expresses strength. It was determined that there was no significant change in the Beck Anxiety Scales cores applied to the parents, and the follow-up measurements of the parents of the children in the intervention group were significantly lower in the Beck Depression Scale measurements CONCLUSION: It was determined that the psychological resilience of the children in the intervention group to whom the psychological resilience program was applied increased compared to the control group, the difficulties decreased, their strength increased, and there fore, the depression scores of the parents decreased. Keywords: Adolescent,Child Sexual Abuse, Resilience