Use of drawings in evaluating children who may be incest victims

Use of drawings in evaluating children who may be incest victims

Five semi-structured drawing tasks are described which have been helpful in evaluating children who may be incest victims. Such children can be asked to do a kinetic family drawing, a drawing of the alleged perpetrator, a drawing of their house, a drawing of their own body, or a drawing of a dream. In a sample of 19 alleged victims, all children under 12 drew freely and expressed relief at being asked to draw. Children 12 and over tended to accept a drawing task only if it was structured as diagramming. These tasks were also found to be helpful in evaluating brothers of alleged victims to determine how aware the boys were of the incest situation and how critical it was for them to be included in therapy. Such drawings can be collected in pediatric and gynecologic settings as well as in the playroom. Use of drawings allows the physician to respect the child's developmental needs while obtaining the information about the incest complaint necessary for medical, protective, and forensic purposes.

Sociology and Political Science, Education, Developmental and Educational Psychology