Development of an Instrument to Measure Healing from Sexual Abuse Trauma

Principal Investigators: Mary Jane Alexander, Ph.D., Jeanne Dumont, Ph.D., Kristina Muenzenmaier, M.D., Elmer Struening, Ph.D

. PROJECT GOALS

Project aims are to:

Identify dimensions of healing from sexual abuse that are important to abuse survivors, and
Develop an instrument to measure the healing process from sexual abuse trauma.

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES AND RESULTS

Method: Available measures for sexual abuse survivors tend to focus on symptom presence and severity. In this project, in a series of concept-mapping meetings, PSMD who are sexual abuse survivors identified dimensions, as well as symptoms and behavior they regard as important in the healing process from abuse.

Results: Self”-dimensions, as described by consumer-survivors, include developing autonomy and self acceptance, self control and self awareness. Community and relationship, particularly activities that might benefit other survivors of abuse, were viewed as essential as well. Survivors also identified coping with overwhelming cognitive and emotional experiences including dissociation, anger, guilt, helplessness and despair as important in healing from abuse. An instrument to measure healing that uses items from the concept mapping meetings has been developed, reviewed and revised in continued collaboration with consumer-survivors. Reviewers were very positive about the potential of the measure as a research tool and/or as a roadmap for recovery when used by a consumer and therapist together.

SIGNIFICANCE OF FINDINGS/ POLICY IMPLICATIONS

There are no measures of healing from sexual abuse trauma available, and few outcome measures of any sort are based on consumer input or focus on the positive aspects of healing from the trauma of childhood sexual abuse. This instrument will provide the first empirically validated measure of this phenomenon and will have utility in evaluating emerging treatment approaches for PSMD with histories of abuse.

PLANS

The measure will be pilot tested in inpatient and outpatient psychiatric settings, as well as in consumer run programs, with 100 PSMD who have histories of sexual abuse. The data obtained will allow the number of items in the measure to be reduced, based on examination of response distributions and the usefulness of several validation criteria that will be assessed. Concerns of IRBs and potential research settings have been addressed about the safety and clinical management of PSMD with childhood abuse histories who participate in research on this topic and approvals and cooperation from potential research settings obtained for the pilot test. We plan to apply for an R-01 to validate the instrument.

Publications:

Muenzenmaier K, Sampson DE, Norelli L, Alexander KA, Stephens B, Huckeba H (1998). Understanding and dealing with sexual abuse trauma: An educational group for women. Trauma Initiative. Training Bureau, New York State Office of Mental Health, Albany NY.

Alexander MJ, Muenznmaier K, Dumont J, Auslander M. Daring to pick up the pieces in the puzzle: A consumer-survivor model of healing from childhood sexual abuse. In Corrigan P, Ralph R (Eds.), Recovery and Mental Illness: Consumer Visions and Research Paradigms. Washington DC: American Psychological Association (In press).

Presentation:

Alexander MJ. Healing from sexual abuse and trauma: Model and measure. Paper presented at the NASMHPD Research Institute 13th Annual Conference on Services Research and Evaluation: Developing an Evidence-Based Culture to Reform Systems. Baltimore, MD, February 9-11, 2003.

Updated: June 2003

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