Testing Assisted Resilience Approach Therapy (ARAT) with children victims of violence

Violence against children is considered one of the most serious human rights violation in Lithuania. Several studies affirm that child maltreatment is one of the main predictors of subsequent PTSD, and that resilience processes can lead to successful adaptation despite traumatic experience. Out of this concept came an empirical investigation on the role of resilience in supporting children victims of violence. Objectives: The aim of this pilot study was to determine whether the increment in resilience paralleled with the application of the Assisted Resilience Approach Therapy with children victims of violence could predict lower trauma-related symptoms at the end of the treatment. Participants and setting: 65 children (mean age = 13.03; range = 9–17) victims of different types of violence and neglect, referred to 25 day-care centers across Lithuania specialized in child violence. Methods: The Child Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM-28) and the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSCC) have been administered to children before and at the end of the treatment. A structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed to test direct relationship between the resilience increase over the treatment and the trauma-related outcomes at the end of it, by controlling the direct effect of trauma-related symptoms at the baseline on the outcomes. Results: The increase in resilience along the treatment predicts lower levels of anger and dissociation after the treatment. Conclusion: Resilience increase appears to predict better outcomes in mental health of children victims of violence. Therefore, clinicians may consider the enhancement of resilience process within the therapy and researchers may assess the protective role of resilience process on the mental health outcomes.