INFAD (Dec 2019)
Piccole farfalle: sexual abuse in childhood and adolescence, suicide and intervention
Abstract
The need for evidence that psychological interventions for children and adolescents who are victims of sexual abuse actually assist them in reducing psychopathological symptoms and increase overall well-being, including those at risk of suicide, has challenged studies aimed at scientifically evaluating. intervention models. In Manaus (AM-Brasil), since 2015, the Serviço de Atendimento Psicológico da Arquidiocese de Manaus (SAPFAM), currently supported by Cáritas (Projeto Içá Ação e Proteção) and the Italian institution Aleimar - Onlus, has been providing intervention assistance for girls and boys who have been sexually abused. This research aims to present descriptively the experience of a community psychological service aimed at children and adolescents who suffered sexual abuse, trying to identify in the users’ protocols the presence of suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, self-mutilation and the intervention steps of the therapeutic model. This is a descriptive, cross-sectional study with retrospective collection and quantitative and qualitative approach. From 146 cases of child and adolescent sexual abuse reported in SAPFAM (2014-2017), a sample of 71 child and adolescent follow-up protocols (47.6%) aged between eight and fourteen years was obtained (52 girls and 19 boys). In line with the clinical results found in specialized articles that prove the effectiveness of the application of Cognitive Behavior Therapy models. We also concluded that the application of psychological instruments in the different stages of intervention, according to the objectives and techniques employed by the group therapy model by SAPFM was effective in psychological assessment and intervention so that children and adolescents do not commit suicide, and know how to cope, reduce or overcome the symptoms associated with it, enabling the “Piccole Farfalle” to fly.
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