Group art therapy with sexually abused girls

The psychological impact of child sexual abuse has been widely researched. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a group art therapy intervention designed by the authors aimed at reducing depression, anxiety, sexual trauma and low self-esteem among 25 sexually abused girls aged 8–11 years. The programme was based on existential-humanistic, Gestalt, client-centred and abusefocused principles. The Solomon four-group design was used to investigate the efficacy of the intervention, and the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children and Human Figure Drawing were used as measures for assessing symptom change. The results indicated that the experimental groups improved significantly compared to the control groups with regard to anxiety and depression. The study adds to the literature on therapeutic approaches that can be applied to sexually abused children and on the use of group art therapy as an intervention technique.