1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«The primary objective of the current study is to better understand how mothers experience and provide emotional support to their children following the disclosure of CSA [child sexual abuse].» (p. 263)

Questions/Hypothèses :
The question that guided the authors is: «How do mothers subjectively experience providing emotional support to their child following the disclosure of CSA?» (p. 263)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
L’échantillon est composé de 22 mères recrutées au Centre d’expertise Marie-Vincent à Montréal. «Approximately half of the mothers (54.4%) reported having experienced CSA. Mothers declared a total of 30 sexually abused children. Children’s ages ranged between 4 and 14 years, with an average of 7.6 years […], during the period when the CSA occurred […].» (p. 264)

Instruments :
Guide d’entretien semi-directif

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse de contenu

3. Résumé

Results show that «[m]others who participated in the study were interviewed at least 1 year after their child’s disclosure, which allowed them to gain some distance from and perspective on their experience. Additionally, all mothers were interviewed after having participated in conjoint therapy with their child addressing the impact of CSA on their lives. This context provided researchers with access to a new perspective on […] emotional support than has previously been explored in the literature. First, mothers reported going through a learning process when attempting to respond to their child’s new emotional needs. Second, mothers described their emotional support as comprising of three main functional strategies which aimed to assist children in their post-disclosure recovery process: […] elaborating on emotional reactions to CSA, […] soothing child’s distress in relation to the disclosure, and […] orienting the child’s healing process by finding a balance in structure and autonomy in the child’s environment. Each of these functional groups is made up of three different types of strategic methods: […] verbal, […] attitudinal, and […] behavioral.» (p. 271)