Comparison of the effectiveness of emotion-focused and existential group therapy on the dimension of adjustment of child sexual abuse victims in Isfahan

According to the available evidences regarding the consequences of sexual harassment, it is necessary to provide appropriate and effective treatment measures for the victims.The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of emotion-focused and existential group therapy on the adjustment of victims of childhood sexual abuse in Isfahan.

This was a pre-test, post-test, and follow-up experimental research with a control group. The samples were 45 individuals with a history of being victimized by any kind of sexual abuse in childhood, referring to psychology centers in Isfahan city. They were selected based on purposeful sampling, and they were randomly allocated into three groups of 15 people (two experimental groups and one control group). One experimental group was intervented by emotion-focused therapy and the other was intervened by existential group therapy. All of them were compared with the control group after completing the intervention therapy procedure. Also, after three months, the groups were followed up.

According to the obtained results, it can be said that existential and emotion-focused therapy effectively increased home adjustment (p=0.037, p=0.021, f=3.480, eta=0.142) and health adjustment (p=0.023, p=0.050, f=3.230, eta=0.133) in victims of child sexual abuse in Isfahan. The results also showed that out of the two treatment methods, only the existential therapy could have a significant effect on the overall adjustment score of victims of child sexual abuse in Isfahan (p=0.048, f=3.620, eta=0.141).The emotion-focused therapy could not have such an effect.

Based on the findings, it is suggested that victims of sexual harassment undergo intervention to improve their adjustment with emotion-focused or existential therapy.