A groupwork programme for mothers of sexual abuse victims

M.A.Sexual abuse of children has been a consistently high profile public issue throughout the late 1980’s and continues to be one. Nest and Woodhouse (1990:3) indicate that child sexual abuse and how to deal with it has become topics of enormous concern a preoccupation for health professionals no less than the media. Recent evidence points to an alarming prevalence of experiences of abuse, especially by young girls who become captive victims in their own homes. The researcher was therefore motivated to conduct this study because the incidents of child sexual abuse have increased dramatically in Soweto. Within the Western culture disclosure of sexual abuse and related interventions is well studied. In our black culture though, sexual abuse is regarded as a taboo, hence it is difficult for victims to report these cases. Even parents of abused children are not open about this problem and this makes it difficult for parents to deal with sexual abuse. The dilemma of non-disclosure causes a need for information about how parents in sexual abuse cases should handle the problem. The study focuses on formulating guidelines to help social workers in dealing with this issue of taboo. In this study the researcher conducted a groupwork with mothers of sexually abuse children in order to set a basis to develop a group intervention programme. Gomes-Schwartz (1990:20) indicates that mothers' responses to the disclosure often influence the relationship with their children. Developing a group intervention programme to address these damaged relationships is relevant to social work practice in South Africa. The aim of this study is to develop a group programme for mothers of victims of sexual abuse and to develop a treatment plan based on the literature survey. This is done by means of a literature survey (general) in the related field of child sexual abuse. The data gained from the literature study were used to develop a group programme and to make conclusions and recommendations in this regard.Dr. E. Oliphan