Living in the Aftermath: Spiritual Struggles of Hong Kong Christian Women Survivors of Sexual Violence

Abstract

Spiritual trauma is one of the common outcomes for Christian women trauma survivors together with other psychological challenges (McNulty & Wardle in Child Abuse & Neglect, 18, 549–555, 1994; Rudolfsson & Tidefors in Pastoral Psychology, 64, 453–467, 2015; Yih in "Business as usual": Are Hong Kong faith communities supportive to Christian women with sexual harassment trauma? under review). Victims frequently experience much disappointment with the pastoral or congregational support they receive in the aftermath of their disclosure, which critically exacerbates their primary traumatic overwhelm and causes various faith-related challenges collectively known as spiritual struggle (Doyle in Sexual abuse in the Catholic clergy: A decade of crisis, 2002–2012 (pp. 171–182). Praegar, 2011). In this paper, I critically examine the spiritual aspect within the complex processes of Hong Kong Christian women survivors of sexual violence trauma recovering from the impacts caused by the responses of the victims’ faith communities using the qualitative research methodology of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). The paper contributes to the growing efforts to develop an integrated and holistic provision of theologically robust and trauma-informed pastoral care for those struggling on the complex and challenging journey in the aftermath of trauma caused by sexual violence.