Working with Latino Clients Dealing with Issues of Child

Sexual Abuse

Ana Nuñez, Psy.D.Ana Correa, MSW

Goals

• Identify characteristics that shape Latino families “la familia” and how this may impact sexual abuse in this community

• What does the research show?• Discuss culturally sensitive prevention, advocacy and treatment approaches for this community

Latinos

Who are Latinos?

• Language• Religion• Geographical origin

• Social Class• Acculturation• Education

Statistics of Latinos in the US(U.S. Census Bureau, 2010)

• 52 million or 16% of population

• 23% of children • 61% children live with both parents

• 75% spoke Spanish at home

• Poverty rate of 26% • 62% have at least a high school education

Abuse Statistics(US Department of Health and Human Services, 2010)

• Estimated 695,000 abuse cases– 21% involved Latino children– 9% sexual abuse cases

Characteristics and Impact on Abuse

“De Eso No Se Habla” (We don’t talk about that)• Collectivism• Simpatía• Familiasmo• Dignidad• Respeto• Personalismo• Compradazco

• Time Orientation• Machismo• Marianismo• Self Reliance• Fatalism• Cultural beliefs regarding worldview

• Shame

What does the research show?

Research Regarding Child Sexual Abuse Among the Latino Population

• Limited • Contradictory results….why?• Prevalence Rates Underreported (Romero, Wyatt, Burns, Carmona & Solis 1999)

Research Results Suggest:

• More likely to experience sexual abuse from the age of 7(Romero, Wyatt, Loeb, Carmona, & Solis, 1999)

• More likely to be abused by an extended family member(Levy, 1988; Huston, Parra, Phihoda, & Foulds, 1995; Sanders-Phillips, Moisan, Wadlington, Morgan & English, 1997; Arroyo, Simpson & Aragon, 1997; Katerndahl, Burge, Kellogs & Parra, 2005; Kenny & McEachern, 2007; Guerra, 2007) and this was correlated to a younger age (Sanders-Phillips et. al, 1995)

• Took longer to disclose abuse (Huston et. al., 1995; Stroud, 2001; Shaw, Lewis, Loeb, & Rosado, 2001)

• Have perpetrator living in the home (Feiring, Coares, & Taska, 2001)

Research Results Suggest (cont.):

• Compared to other groups Latinos received less maternal support (Sanders-Phillips et. al., 1995; Feiring et al., 2001)

• Higher levels of family conflict (Sanders-Phillips, et al., 1995; Katerndahl, et. al., 2005)

• Siblings were more likely to be abused (Sanders-Phillips et. al., 1995; Huston et. al, 1995)

• Latinas who experienced abuse involving penetration showed more symptoms of depression/anxiety (Mennen, 1995)…why?

Barriers and Facilitators to Disclosure and Services

Barriers to Disclosure(Iturrioz, 2000)

• Receiving and anticipating a negative response

• Desire to protect others from the pain/burden of disclosure

• Felt ashamed• Lack of support• Cultural Beliefs

Barriers that Prevent Latino Families from Seeking Services

• Unaware of community resources

• Lack of trust • Lack of resources• Fear of deportation• Language• Use of other resources

Facilitators to Disclosure and Service Use • Knowing others had similar experiences

• Supportive relationships• Receiving a supportive response to the disclosure

• Latino forensic interviewers had a higher rate of disclosure

• 60% of reports were made by family members

• Making resources available

Culturally sensitive prevention programs

Typical Prevention Programs(Fontes, Cruz & Tabachnick, 2001)

• Most occurs in schools• Not specific to cultural or linguistic background

• Effect on actual victimization is less clear although it is effective in increasing knowledge, increasing the likelihood of disclosure and increasing safety skills

• Usually not directed towards adults

Prevention Program• STOP IT NOW (Fontes et. al., 2001)

Focus groups indicated:– Recognition of sexual abuse– Deemphasized possibility of sexual abuse occurring in family relationships (other than stepfathers)

– Focus on recognizing child internalizing symptoms but did not include externalizing symptoms

– Males expressed wanting to hurt offender– Confusion regarding age of consent/statutory rape

– Myths– Use of Stories

Prevention Program (cont.)

• Taking Care of Me (Levy, 1988)Recommendations:– Providing information to both parent and child

– Problem solving and coping skills– Providing community resources– Safety vs. sex issue

What does this mean for the development and

implementation of programs?

What does this mean for the development and implementation of prevention programs?• Awareness of differences on views

(Arroyo, et. al., 1997; Rodriguez-Srednicki & Twaite, 1999)

• Target community (Millán & Rabiner, 1992)

• Target parents with school age children• Consider famialismo• Need for psychoeducation • Provide resources• Use creativity (dichos/cuento time)

Providing Culturally Sensitive Advocacy

Advocacy with Families of Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse• Allow considerable amount of time for engagement

• Understand cultural dynamics and identified specific needs

• Available bicultural and bilingual staff

• Provide psychoeducation• Multiple resources• Need for research

Providing Culturally Sensitive Treatment to

Latino Children who are Survivors of Sexual Abuse

Providing Culturally Sensitive Treatment• Beginning stages of research for providing treatment for Latino survivors of child sexual abuse

• Evidence based treatment maybe limited• Last resort• Discuss expectations and assess cultural worldview

• Be mindful of characteristics such as respeto,personalismo, simpatia and fatalismo

• Symptom presentation• Be aware of language use in trauma narrative

“Vengasé y tomesé un Café con Pan”(quote from support group)

“Nos sirvio mucho porque pudimos decir lo que teniamos adentro y que no podemos decirlo afuera y saber que otras personas estan pasando lo mismo.”

(“It helped us a lot because we could speak about what we had inside and can’t talk about no where else and to know that other people are going through the same.”)

Ana L. Nuñez, Psy.D. Mental Health Manager

312-492-3185anunez@ChicagoCAC.org

Ana Correa, MSWFamily Advocacy Manager

312-492-3863acorrea@ChicagoCAC.org

Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center

1240 South Damen AvenueChicago, IL 60608