Kinetic family drawings (KFD's) of sexually abused and non-abused African females.

Abstract

ABSTRACT The discriminative ability and interrater reliability of one quantitative method of scoring Kinetic Family Drawings, (KFDJs), was explored, focusing on a little researched population - that of sexually abused versus non-referred Zulu speaking females between 7 and 11 years of age. An additional 20 indicators, suggested by various research to be frequent in the human figure drawings of (Western) sexually abused children, were also evaluated. The KFD's of 28 subjects were obtained. The 14 experimental group subjects were drawn from an organisation which deals extensively with the child survivors and perpetrators of sexual abuse. The 14 control group subjects were drawn from alocal primary school and had no known history of sexual abuse. Results were interpreted empirically. Results suggested that although the scoring system may be reliable, it is sensitive to the training, theoretical stance, etc. of the user. It was also suggested that the indicators used were not, as used by the scorers, able to distinguish between the KFDJs of the control and experimental groups. The relevance of certain of the indicators to South African populations was questioned since they were not scored at all by the scorers. In view of the researcher's perception of shortcomings with this approach, she attempted to describe more fully that which was depicted in the KFD's collected. Finally, several comments on the utility of viewing drawings from social constructivist, deconstructionist and social constructionist understandings as a complement to qualitative and quantitative approaches to the KFD were made. Suggestions as to how the KFD could be fruitfully used were proffered. It was contended that the KFD technique is not suitable for the use of lower level health care workers, that KFD's may have value in therapeutic settings, and that quantitative methods are simply one set of meanings which could be used to (partly) understand KFD's - attending to the child's context and the meanings he/she attributes to the various aspects of the KFD was contended to be important.