An evaluation of a communications training program within a self-help group for sexually abusive families

Remediating the dysfunctional communications patterns of sexually abusive families is an important step in treating them. No communications training program for such families has been evaluated, however. This paper describes an evaluation of a communications training program carried out within the context of a self-help group for sexually abusive families. Group members were randomly assigned to receive an eight-week communications training program or to continue participating at self-help meetings. No group differences were apparent on a preintervention communications questionnaire, but the posttraining scores of experimental subjects were higher than controls. Experimental subjects maintained these scores upon follow-up and the scores of controls increased when the program was administered to them by a student therapist. It is suggested that the procedures and findings of this study contribute to the community mental health field by a) underscoring communications concepts that are helpful to abusive families; b) modeling a novel design for evaluating interventions that includes self-help participation as a nonspecific treatment; and c) illustrating the value of collaborative efforts between self-help groups and human services providers when they serve their mutual interests.