From the uncertainty of violence to life after abuse: discursive transitions among female survivors of IPV in online contexts

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is undoubtedly one of the most worrying concerns in today’s global societies. Due to the many intertwined factors that explain the persistence of this reality among people from all sorts of backgrounds, finding a uniform strategy to cope with this social issue is far from unproblematic. In this study, I contribute to a growing field of research that examines the discourse of female survivors of IPV in online contexts. The main objective this research pursues is to identify relevant linguistic patterns used by these women to represent themselves and their perpetrators in a publicly-available online forum. More specifically, I seek to ascertain discursive traits that characterise women in an initial stage in contrast to a final stage within an abusive relationship. To this end, I adopt a Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies approach (CADS) in a digital corpus of circa 136,000 words, which are analysed with the software tool Sketch Engine (SkE). Findings show the most salient discursive traits that characterise IPV online discourse. Additionally, and drawing from verb patterns and their semantic categorisation, I highlight relevant verbal tendencies that connect linguistic textual evidence that contributes to sustaining the power imbalances that also define this social phenomenon.

Barriers to Help-Seeking for Sexual Violence Among Married or Cohabiting Women in Ghana

While sexual violence against women has gained attention in sub-Saharan Africa, research examining help-seeking remains limited. Scholarship on barriers to help-seeking among sexually abused married or cohabiting women is particularly lacking. We used the barriers model and held 15 in-depth interviews with sexually abused Ghanaian married or cohabiting women to examine help-seeking behaviors. Participants identified multiple barriers to help-seeking, including financial difficulties, lack of social support, and stigma. The results corroborate the barriers model's formulation of the challenges faced by female survivors in reporting violence. They indicate the need to improve laws to promote help-seeking among women with experiences of sexual violence.

Problem-Focused Coping Strategies Used by Victims of Gender Violence Across the Stages of Change

This study compares the problem-focused emotion regulation strategies used by 200 female survivors of intimate partner violence (age: M = 40.16, SD = 11.27, 18 – 66 years) to cope with violence throughout various stages of change (SOC). It examines the relationship between problem-focused coping strategies and positive and negative affect, and the impact of these variables on the different SOC. Results suggest that victims differ and are flexible in the use of strategies throughout the various SOC. During the initial stages, victims tend to use passive/maladaptive behaviors that hamper change, while in the later stages they use more active/adaptive strategies to leave the abusive relationship.

Contraceptive Use among Gender Based Violence Survivors: The Case of Matabeleland South, Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe’s contraceptive utilisation has improved significantly, but this progress is not uniform across all its provinces. Matabeleland South in particular, is one province with the lowest contraceptive prevalence, against a background of significantly high spousal violence. This study sought to investigate modern contraceptive prevalence among GBV survivors in rural Matabeleland South. The study used cross-sectional data collected from 130 female survivors of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) from Bulilima and Umzingwane districts in Matabeleland South. The study found the modern contraceptive prevalence to be 56%, with the most commonly reported contraceptive method being the oral pill, followed by injectables and implants, condoms, and lastly, female sterilisation. The study also found that education, age, and level of health care access had a positive association with contraceptive use, whilst age difference with a partner and marital status had a negative association with contraceptive use. Overall, the study indicates that contraceptive utilisation is still low amongst GBV survivors in Matabeleland South. Programming aimed at improving contraceptive use should therefore emphasize increasing education among young women to raise awareness on the benefits of using contraceptives, as well as involving spouses of survivors in programming to facilitate rapid adoption of contraceptives.

Case Report: The resiliency journey of a Vietnamese female sexual abuse survivor: an exploration in life history

Currently, the studies on sexual abuse trauma, and resilience in Confucian survivors are still limited. The purpose of this study is to explore the resilience of Confucian women after sexual abuse trauma to provide evidence to support in counseling and psychotherapy practices. The article describes the resiliency story of a Vietnamese Confucian female survivor who was abused by her brother from the age of 8 to 16. The life history approach used in qualitative narrative research was applied in this study. The researcher identified two factors that strongly influence the survivor’s resilience: (1) the effectiveness of passive education in the general education curriculum is oriented to both competence and quality development; and (2) an authentic understanding of the core Confucian philosophical doctrine: the neutrality and the self-nurture. Based on the findings, we propose a 7-stage flow diagram of a Confucian women's resilience following sexual abuse. These findings provide a new approach to psychological counseling for female survivors of any religion by using Confucian philosophy and contribute to the impact of studies on religious and spiritual factors affecting the resilience of sexual abuse survivors.

Fertility Counseling in Survivors of Cancer in Childhood and Adolescence: Time for a Reappraisal?

Genetic predisposition could have an important role in the pathogenesis of cancers in children and adolescents. A recent study by our group showed that, among female survivors of cancers in childhood and adolescence, the proportion of cases involving a possible genetic predisposition was sizable (at least one in five). Our sample is too small to be representative of the general population, but it gave us an opportunity to reappraise this issue. Women with a genetic predisposition can transmit the risk of cancer to their offspring, and their awareness of this may influence their reproductive and fertility preservation choices. In our experience, a predisposition to cancer receives little attention in the fertility counseling and decision-making process unless a patient already has a definitive molecular diagnosis of a hereditary cancer syndrome. We feel it is essential to empower women on this issue, particularly as there are ways to overcome the problem, including preimplantation genetic testing (PGT-M) in definitively diagnosed cases, egg donation and adoption. In the context of fertility counseling for survivors of cancer in childhood and adolescence who have reached adulthood, the risk of transmitting a predisposition to cancer should be discussed with patients, if relevant and desired.

Peer Review of “Comparison Between Male and Female Survivors of Sexual Abuse and Assault in Relation to Age at Admission to Therapy, Age of Onset, and Age at Last Sexual Assault: Retrospective Observational Study” (Preprint)

UNSTRUCTURED This is a peer review report.