Rogers, M.M. orcid.org/0000-0002-7214-4375, Ali, P. orcid.org/0000-0002-7839-8130, Thompson, J. orcid.org/0000-0001-9256-1208 et al. (1 more author) (2023) “Survive, learn to live with it … or not”: a narrative analysis of women's repeat victimization using a lifecourse perspective. Social Science & Medicine, 338. 116338. ISSN 0277-9536
Abstract
Violence against women is a global public health concern, with high levels of prevalence and debilitating consequences for victims, including a higher risk of revictimization. Quantitative evidence shows a strong association between previous experiences of sexual victimization, particularly in childhood, and future victimization. However, there is limited rigorous qualitative scholarship that advances understanding about revictimization experienced from childhood into adulthood. In this study, we address this gap offering a novel contribution to qualitative insights on revictimization using a life-course perspective. We conducted a rigorous qualitative secondary analysis, adopting a feminist narrative approach, to explore how individuals make sense of their experiences of abuse. Findings showed five main themes about survivors' experiences of repeat victimization across the life-course including: abuse experiences in childhood and adolescence; mental health and ‘risky’ coping mechanisms; naming abuse in early adulthood; seeking support in adulthood; surviving and a life beyond abuse. Most participants experienced multiple incidents of sexual abuse in childhood, which led to helplessness, shame, blame, and normalization of their experiences, creating a vulnerability to repeat victimization. Childhood abuse had later mental health impacts. Many participants used risky coping mechanisms, such as substance use. Survivors tended to be seen through the lens of their mental health diagnosis and addiction rather than through the lens of how abuse caused complex trauma. To address the impacts of revictimization and complex trauma affecting women across the globe, healthcare policy and services need a narrative and trauma-informed approach, over the short-, medium- or longer-term, enabling survivors to make sense of the connected nature of their experiences and accumulated vulnerability resulting from the abuse by others, rather than factors associated with the individual (their mental ill health, for example, or substance use). This is important as women's individual understanding is critical to processing trauma and abuse, and to longer-term recovery.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
Keywords: | Childhood sexual abuse; Domestic violence and abuse; Interpersonal violence; Revictimization; Sexual abuse; Trauma; Trauma-informed care |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Department of Sociological Studies (Sheffield) The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) > Health Sciences School (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 27 Nov 2023 15:25 |
Last Modified: | 27 Nov 2023 15:25 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier BV |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116338 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:205712 |