03/22/2022
By Stephanie Block

The College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, invites you to attend a doctoral dissertation defense by Hannah M. Johnson on "Exploring the Support of Non-Offending Caregivers of Child Victims of CSA."


Candidate Name: Hannah M. Johnson
Degree: Doctoral degree in Applied Psychology and Prevention Science
Defense Date: Monday, April 4, 2022
Time: 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Location: Virtual Meeting via Zoom. Please contact Hannah_johnson@uml.edu or stephanie_block@uml.edu for a link to attend)

Committee Advisor: Stephanie D. Block, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Committee Members:

  • Joseph E. Gonzales, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • Linda M. Williams, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist, Wellesley Centers for Women, Wellesley College

Brief Abstract:

Non-offending caregiver (NOC) support is an identified protective factor for victims of child sexual abuse (CSA). Prior research indicates the importance of NOC support on a child’s functioning post-disclosure, ability to access services, and for the CSA case to move forward with prosecution. Lack of support is associated with negative mental health outcomes for the child victim, removal of victim from home, and disclosure issues. One concern with the term NOC support is the lack of consistent operational definition and measurement. This dissertation examines how the construct of NOC support is measured in a sample of 500 CSA cases reported to prosecutor’s offices, if there are any distinct patterns of support, and what case characteristics are related to these supportive patterns. Results from the first study indicate the data sample has two patterns of support, highly supportive and less supportive caregivers. The second study found that immigration concerns predicted caregivers being in the less supportive group. Lastly, this dissertation aimed to capture the experiences of NOCs in the context of their child’s CSA experience through qualitative interviews. Specifically, exploring what types of resources NOCs had access to across the various ecological systems, and how helpful those resources were in addressing their needs. NOCs reported individual level supports as the most helpful and child protective services as the least helpful support. Barriers and challenges to dealing with their child’s CSA were also identified. These findings can inform future practice and policy work for NOCs to provide them with the resources they need to potentially increase their supportive behavior towards their child.