Survivors Of Victims Research Articles

Sexual Victimization Disclosure: A Cluster Analysis Approach to Understanding Victimization Experiences in Disclosers and Non-Disclosers.

Research has used cluster analysis to identify clusters, or groups, of sexual victimization survivors who share similar assault experiences. However, researchers have not investigated whether disclosure status is a key component of the survivors’ experience. The current study identified two clusters among 174 disclosing and non-disclosing sexual victimization survivors. Cluster One (n = 74) included an incapacitated assault by a lesser-known perpetrator and disclosure of the event. Cluster Two (n = 100) included a verbally instigated assault by a well-known perpetrator and nondisclosure of the event. Follow up independent t-tests revealed that women in Cluster One had significantly higher depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms than women in Cluster Two. Results support prior research identifying clusters of victimization based on assault characteristics and suggest that disclosure status is a key variable in the recovery process. Specific implications for clinicians, policy makers, and the community are discussed.

Online Disclosure of Sexual Victimization and Social Reactions: What Do We Know?

Many survivors of sexual violence share their experiences with someone. As social media becomes an increasingly common platform for disclosing and responding to sexual victimization, it is vital to consider how existing research examining in-person disclosure of sexual victimization – and the social reactions of support providers – may or may not generalize to the experience of disclosing sexual victimization in online spaces. Following a public health approach, this review and commentary brings together emerging, mid-career, and established scholars in sexual assault disclosure and social reactions to disclosure with the goal of critically examining “what we know” and “what we don’t know” about sexual assault disclosure and social reactions to disclosure that occur in an online forum (i.e., blog post, Twitter, Facebook, or other social media site). Drawing upon “what we don’t know” about the ways in which sexual assault disclosure occurs in online contexts, we generate suggestions for research, as well as strategies for understanding how best to create safer and more supportive experiences for survivors of sexual victimization who choose to disclose their experiences online.

‘I’m Not at All Protected and I Think Other Women Should Know That, That They’re Not Protected Either’: Victim–Survivors’ Experiences of ‘Misidentification’ in Victoria’s Family Violence System

The misidentification of women as predominant aggressors has emerged as a topical issue in family violence research, with feminist scholarship suggesting that such trends may be attributed to a range of factors, including incident-based policing and a misunderstanding of the ways in which women use violence against their partners. Where existing research has primarily focused on policing practices in relation to misidentification, this article explores the impacts of misidentification on the lives of women victim–survivors of family violence in Victoria (Australia), a jurisdiction that has recently seen significant reforms to family violence systems in the wake of the Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence (2016). Using data from interviews with 32 system stakeholders and survey responses from 11 women who have experienced misidentification in Victoria, this study explores misidentification within the family violence intervention order system. It demonstrates that being misidentified as a predominant aggressor on a family violence intervention order can have a significant impact on women’s lives and their access to safety, highlighting the need for improved policing and court responses to the issue beyond existing reforms.

Repairing the Trauma Bonds of Sex Trafficking Victim-Survivors with Animal-Assisted Therapy

ABSTRACT In this paper, we discuss the unique trauma experiences of victim-survivors of sex trafficking. In discussion of current counseling practices and the complex trauma endured by these victim survivors, we offer a suggestion to integrate therapy animals through the use of animal-assisted therapy (AAT) as a practical means of helping victim-survivors heal and repair their trauma bonds. The paper provides counselors with information on the mental and emotional impact of human sex trafficking on victim-survivors while also providing its implications for treatment.

The intergenerational transmission of family violence: Mothers' perceptions of children's experiences and use of violence in the home

AbstractIntimate partner violence (IPV) on average affects one in four women, with the majority of victim survivors identifying as mothers in national survey data. Children experiencing parental IPV are now equally understood as victims. Extensive research documents the short‐ and long‐term impacts of children's experiences of IPV on their safety and wellbeing. More recently, research has started to examine adolescent children's use of violence in the home as adolescent family violence (AFV). Contributing to this emerging body of research, we draw on narrative interview data from mothers who participated in a larger study on IPV, help‐seeking and the perceived impact on children to better understand how mothers make sense of children's use of violence in the home. Mothers identified an emergence of AFV in male children with childhood experiences of adult IPV. Although mothers' experiences of adult and adolescent violence highlight their dual victimisation, mothers frame their abusive children as victims rather than perpetrators. Implications for future research, policy and trauma‐informed practice are discussed.

Policies, procedures and risk aversity: police decision-making in domestic violence matters in an Australian jurisdiction

ABSTRACT Domestic violence (DV) is an issue of global concern, which has been subject to public health and criminal justice reforms for decades. Much attention has been paid to legal responses to DV, specifically the policing of this social issue. Police responses have frequently been scrutinised for not taking DV seriously, not placing sufficient emphasis on perpetrator accountability and not recognising and acknowledging victim survivor preferences sufficiently. The current study examines police responses to DV in an Australian jurisdiction that has been subject to substantial DV-focused policy and law reforms in recent years. Drawing on focus group data from 19 police officers and prosecutors, this article examines the factors that shape police decision making when responding to DV. Findings identify a shift towards more proactive and protective policing of DV, guided by a strong emphasis on operational policies and procedures, risk perceptions and aversity. Findings further reveal limited room for victim preferences in police responses to DV, highlighting the need for specialist DV units to provide holistic and nuanced responses to families affected by DV.

Why Do Women Talk About It? Reasons for Disclosure of Sexual Victimization and Associated Symptomology.

Many sexual victimization survivors disclose their experience; however, there is limited research investigating why women disclose this experience and how reasons relate to psychopathology. The current online study aims to further understand the experiences of 142 female survivors (aged 18-29 years) by identifying their reason for disclosure and investigating how reasons relate to self-reported depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomology. Qualitative analyses identified two reasons: intentional and elicited disclosures. Hierarchical linear regressions revealed that elicited disclosures were associated with higher PTSD symptomology than intentional disclosures above and beyond relevant covariates, suggesting that disclosure reason is an important factor in the recovery process.

Neuropsychology and family violence: a national survey of training and knowledge levels in clinical neuropsychologists

ABSTRACT Objective: Family violence causes brain injury and trauma for many victim survivors. Neuropsychologists play a central role in helping with these issues. We aimed to evaluate rates of family violence training, knowledge and clinical skills in Australian neuropsychologists. Method: An online, brief, self-report survey of psychologists practicing clinically in the area of neuropsychology Australia wide. The survey assessed prior training, knowledge and confidence together with awareness of specific family violence clinical skills, and barriers to competent practice. Results: Responses were received from every state and territory and represented more than 10% of the total registered endorsed clinical neuropsychology workforce (N = 92). Over 90% of respondents had undertaken family violence training, however 57% reported having little or no knowledge and 67% little or no confidence working clinically in the area. Knowledge of specific family violence skills was reduced, with only 20% indicating that they knew how to respond, when clients disclosed experiencing family violence. Conclusions: Further work is needed to improve the ability of the Australian neuropsychology workforce to respond to this important health issue. Response of neuropsychologists may be sub-optimal, particularly in regard to the provision of psychological support following disclosures a central tenant of World Health Organization guidelines. KEY POINTS What is already known about this topic: Family violence is a significant public health issue in Australia. Family violence can cause both brain injuries and psychological trauma and attenuated cognitive functioning has been associated with both of these conditions. Clinical neuropsychologists commonly work with clients who experience cognitive attenuation. What this paper adds: This paper is the first, to our knowledge, to survey training, knowledge, confidence levels and specific family violence clinical skills in Australian neuropsychologists. Over 10% of the endorsed clinical neuropsychology Australian workforce participated in this self-report online survey. Results indicated that most had received some family violence training, however, self-rated knowledge, confidence and awareness of specific family violence skills were relatively low and further training and professional development in this area is required.

Addressing Sexual Violence in Mennonite Communities: The Case of John Howard Yoder

This article names the fact of long-standing sexual violence in Mennonite communities and examines the case of renowned Mennonite theologian and ethicist John Howard Yoder, whose serial sexual violence became widely known in 2015. I first sketch briefly Yoder's sexual abuse and Mennonite institutional responses to victim– survivors and to Yoder himself. While focus on so prominent a figure can obscure the trauma suffered by the many, many victim–survivors of other perpetrators, such a public reckoning can also help to break the silence and motivate visible institutional change. The second part of the article considers the ways in which the inadequacy of the tradition's theology of nonviolence and commitment to communal discernment and accountability contributed to the failure to respond to victims and to bring Yoder to justice. At the same time, I argue both of these long-standing commitments also present potential resources for Mennonite responses to sexual violence. The theology and practice of nonviolence must be recast and expanded to attend to power dynamics and abuses internal to the community. Such a trauma-informed peace theology can ground and direct more adequate response to sexualized violence. In the same way, communal discernment and accountability can be a resource if recast in light of the needs of victim–survivors—for example, by addressing power differentials, the limits of traditional reconciliation approaches based on Matthew 18, and the need to report abuse to outside agencies.

Labor Trafficking in Missouri: Revelations from a statewide needs assessment

ABSTRACT Knowledge about labor trafficking (LT) lags behind extant understanding about sex trafficking due to the ability of LT to exist within legal frameworks, and it impacts some of the most oppressed and marginalized groups of people within our society. While the anti-trafficking movement is developing better understanding about LT broadly, nuances around the regions and industries in which LT exists, and the unique needs experienced by survivors have yet to be fully explored. Through an electronic survey a statewide needs assessment and count study was conducted. Of the 107 total service provider respondents, three indicated having worked only with LT survivors and 13 providers indicated they served survivors with both labor and sex trafficking experiences. These 16 providers indicated they had served 20 labor trafficking only and 53 labor/sex trafficking survivors in the prior 12 calendar months. Respondents provided unique insight about the types of LT victimization survivors had experienced in this small mid-western state as well as unique needs among this population. Implications of these insights are discussed within the context of service provision and policy.

Trauma, social media, and #WhyIDidntReport: An analysis of twitter posts about reluctance to report sexual assault.

Recent social trends regarding sexual violence and gender have included elements of "hashtag activism," which involves using social media tools for cultural awareness and change. For example, the Twitter hashtag: #WhyIDidntReport was created for survivors of sexual victimization to share their barriers to reporting. In this project, 600 tweets attached to this hashtag were analyzed using a combination of grounded theory and content analysis methods. Results were organized into a conceptual map, with a central category (power), connected to three other ecological categories (culture, community systems, and relationships) and one category of survivor experiences. Each category has subcategories which illustrate certain contextual and internal barriers to reporting assault. The model shows how these barriers intersect and interact, and often further traumatize those who have been assaulted. The model offers implications for professionals working with those who have survived sexual trauma, as well as those studying the dynamics of abuse.

Dating violence experienced: How interpersonal communication shows it all

This study examined interpersonal communiation between perpetrators and victims of dating violence. Interpersonalcommunication that carried by 3 survivors who will also tell what has been said by perpetrator through their experiences. The research conducted by deep interview with all of subjects those as participants and a psychologist. In order to get the core words of the languange that has been used when communicating with each other. That implies interpersonal communication is important as way to read how by using certain words or sentences in interpersonl communication can build something that has impact for one who spoken to person who in romance relationship. It can created self esteem, interdependence and secure feeling or as the opposite when dating violence occured; insecure, fear, shame, humiliate, less confidence or gaslighting. Those are the findings through particular evidences base on survivor narrated of interpersonal communication with perpetrator that has been told to researcher about how they were experiences dating violence, and physical evidences has proofed how it operates.
 The dating violence can perpetuated and have countless negative impact when the victims survivors still tolerate such behaviors from the perpetrator (boyfriend/lover), and do not aware that those abusive treatments are must not to be accepted.

069 Hormonal Contraceptive Use and Sexual Functioning among Young Women Who Experienced Sexual Victimization

Women with sexual victimization histories are more likely to experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which increases risk for sexual functioning issues. Hormonal contraceptives (HC) may exacerbate impairments from PTSD and sexual dysfunction through a variety of mechanisms, including cognitive factors (e.g., memory processes involving fear and threat) and biological factors (e.g., dysregulation of autonomic response to sexual cues). However, little is known about the role of HC use in determining which survivors of sexual victimization will develop sexual functioning problems.

“They Will Keep Seeing Young Women Murdered by Men. Enough Is Enough-We Have Seen too Many Women Lose Their Lives”. Lessons for Professionals Working with Victims of ‘Honour’ Abuse and Violence

The brutal ‘honour’ killing of Banaz Mahmod, aged 20, is still one of the most prominent murder cases of this kind in Britain. This was due partly to its complexity as well as the poor police response to Banaz’s pleas for help before her death—most notably, she reported her abuse on multiple occasions, forewarned them of her murder, and named her killers. This tragic case was a painful example of how professional agencies in the UK fail victims of so called ‘honour’ abuse and violence. Fifteen years on, support services are still naive about the people and communities most vulnerable to ‘honour’ abuse in Britain. More recently, campaigns to include Black, Asian, and other ethnic minority victims in the mainstream domestic abuse agenda have encouraged agencies to be culturally-competent in their support of ‘honour’ abuse victims, to redress previous failings. To facilitate this, this study conducted a focus group discussion with fourteen women (12 victim survivors and 2 support workers) recruited from a support organisation for ethnic minority women dealing with ‘honour’ abuse, to gain insight into their lived experiences. Interviews were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Three superordinate themes emerged, each with two sub-themes; vulnerability (sub-themes, fear of external organisations and racism); organisational and agency support (sub-themes, education and support from law enforcement), and rules and restrictions (sub-themes, immigration status and agency funding). These themes should be explored by professionals to better understand how to support female victims of ‘honour’ abuse and violence, without disparaging their culture.

Emerging Treatment Models and Programs in Intimate Partner Violence Treatment: An Introduction

In the culmination of 17 manuscripts by more than 40 scholars, the peer-reviewed journalPartner Abusepublished the Partner Abuse State of Knowledge (PASK), the largest scholarly scientific inquiry to date regarding the current state of knowledge for intimate partner violence (IPV), over several issues between 2012 and 2013. The purpose of this current two-volume special issue of Partner Abuse is to build upon these efforts, as promising empirical evidence has continued to unfold. The focus in this series centers on evidence-based treatment for victim–survivors and perpetrators of IPV. This introduction manuscript reviews the historical context of IPV and the evolvement of traditional IPV policies, programs, and treatment models. It then presents a brief overview of our current state of empirical knowledge regarding these traditional models. Finally, it highlights the emerging and promising models that will be presented throughout this two-part series.

The pandemic paradox: The consequences of COVID‐19 on domestic violence

The pandemic paradox: The consequences of COVID‐19 on domestic violence

#Me(n)Too? Online Social Support Toward Male and Female Survivors of Sexual Victimization.

Much has been written about the difficulty of sexual victimization survivors to disclose their experiences to others and about the crucial role social support play in their recovery process. However, the vast majority of the literature has focused on face-to-face interactions, while in recent years, more and more victims are turning to online self-disclosure, whether privately or as part of proactive network protests such as the #MeToo hashtag campaign. The few existing studies that examined online responses to disclosures of sexual victimization have focused on female survivors only and didn't examine whether men and women elicit different responses based on gender stereotypes. The current study addresses this lacuna through a quantitative content analysis of 2,635 responses to 734 self-disclosures of male and female survivors of sexual victimization published on Facebook and Twitter during the first 3 weeks of the #MeToo and #WhyIDidntReport protests in Israel (October 2017 and October 2018, respectively). The findings indicate that social networks, despite some of their affordances, such as lack of eye contact or physical gestures, are supportive environments for survivors of sexual victimization of both sexes. However, women who self-disclose online are more likely to receive emotional support and network support, whereas men are more likely to receive retributive support-a new support type that was found in the current study. The conclusion is that users' reactions to sexual victimization disclosures are mainly supportive but are also affected by gender stereotypes. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.

Beyond Voice: Conceptualizing Children’s Agency in Domestic Violence Research Through a Dialogical Lens

Children who live in households where domestic violence is occurring have been variously described in the literature over time as silent witnesses, witnesses, a cohort who is “exposed” to the violence, and more recently, as individual victim survivors and active agents in their own right, each with their own lived experience of violence. Research methodologies in this arena have shifted from adult-focused measurements of the impacts of domestic violence on children to more qualitative attempts to understand the experience from the child’s perspective. In doing so, there have been notions of giving “voice to the voiceless” and doing no further harm through a desire to protect children from exposure. However, the relational framing of children’s voices and recognition and enabling of children’s agency is less evolved in research and professional interventions. A study undertaken in Australia researched with a primary care population of 23 children and 18 mothers, children’s experiences of safety and resiliency in the context of domestic violence. The findings of the research were realized using qualitative research methods with children and the analytical framing of hermeneutical phenomenology, ethics of care and in particular dialogical ethics, to draw practical understanding and application in health care settings. This article aims to demonstrate how the analytical methodology chosen was applied in the research process and reveals the elements required for children to experience agency in navigating their relationships in an unsafe world, while learning about themselves. It draws upon understandings of the child’s relational context and introduces a model of children’s agency, which may have applicability for domestic violence policy and practice settings.

Individual Factors Associated with Women’s Use of Mental Health Services during Incarceration: Targeting Programmatic Resources

ABSTRACT This study analyzed data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics Survey of Inmates in State Correctional Facilities to identify factors associated with the use of mental health services among incarcerated women (N = 2571). One quarter of the sample (25.3%) reported accessing mental health counseling during their incarceration, while 30.8% reported using psychotropic medications. Survivors of childhood sexual victimization were more likely to use psychotropic medication (OR = 1.45, p = .016) compared to women who had not experienced this form of violence. Women convicted of violent offenses were more likely to use both psychotropic medication (OR = 2.13, p < .001) and counseling services (OR = 1.57, p = .002). Correctional practitioners should considertargeting resources to address women’s experiences as both victims and perpetrators of violence.

Rape Medical Advocates Experiences with Vicarious Trauma, Burnout and Self-Care

ABSTRACTWorking with survivors of sexual victimization can be emotionally difficult for rape medical advocates. Although advocates are crucial in terms of providing care for sexual assault survivors and play an integral role in the emergency room, it is unclear as to the impact of experiencing emotional and psychological trauma that working with survivors can have on them and if they have effective self-care techniques. The purpose of this study was to explore rape medical advocates experiences with vicarious trauma and burnout, their self-care techniques to mitigate secondary trauma, and the overall positive and negative impact it has on their well-being.