Sexual revictimization risk reduction program: A proposal for the use of dialectical behavior therapy skills training groups for sexually victimized women

Abstract

Women with histories of childhood sexual abuse or adult sexual victimization are at an increased of being sexually assaulted in the future, a phenomenon known as sexual revictimization. Although there are currently effective risk reduction programs for sexual victimization, those interventions fail to decrease the incidence of sexual revictimization. Therefore, a new sexual revictimization risk reduction program in the form of a dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) skills group was proposed. A review of the literature on childhood sexual abuse and sexual revictimization was conducted, including an exploration of risk factors for sexual revictimization and existing risk reduction programs for revictimization. Key features of DBT were summarized, and the rationale for and a brief overview of the proposed risk reduction program were presented.