THE FUTURE METAPHORS OF SEXUALLY ABUSED ADOLESCENT GIRLS

Child sexual abuse is drawing more and more attention nowadays because it has become more visible than in previous years. Being visible in this way, it has also brought forward strategies for prevention and treatment by various institutions and researchers. Child abuse is a very complex phenomenon and needs to be addressed by different disciplines. It seems evident that having strong resources available for the child in order to re-adapt the child to the everyday life is a necessity. Therefore, it is essential that studies involving the prevention of child abuse, the reporting of child abuse and recovery after abuse are carried out. While all these experiences create negative effects on both intellectual and emotional world as a child and future expectations as an adult. While negative effects of the child's exposure to sexual abuse are evident, it seems extremely important that they can cope with these effects in the best way and continue to their lives. In this study, the perceptions of adolescent girls exposed to sexual abuse regarding the future were tried to be revealed. The study carried out with a qualitative research design; participants were asked their metaphors for the future. The future metaphors of the sexually abused girls were found to contain positive attributions. These findings indicate that they have positive expectations and hopes for their future.