Social reactions to disclosure of sexual violence in female adults with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities: a qualitative analysis of four cases

Autor(en)

Doris Rittmannsberger, Germain Weber, Brigitte Lueger-Schuster

Abstrakt

Socio-interpersonal factors have a strong potential to protect individuals against pathological processing of traumatic events. While perceived social support has emerged as an important protective factor, this effect has not been replicated in people with intellectual disabilities (ID). One reason for this might be that the relevance of socio-interpersonal factors differs in people with ID: Social support may be associated with more stress due to a generally high dependency on sometimes unwanted support. An exploration of the role of posttraumatic, socio-interpersonal factors for people with ID is therefore necessary in order to provide adequate support. The current study aims to explore the subjective perception of social reactions to disclosure of sexual violence in four women with mild to moderate ID. The study was conducted in Austria. The women were interviewed about their perception of received social reactions as benevolent or harmful, their emotional response, and whether they perceived being treated differently due to their ID diagnosis. The interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis. First, the interviews were coded inductively, and social reactions were then deductively assigned to three categories that were derived from general research: positive reactions, unsupportive acknowledgement, turning against. Findings on the perception of social reactions were in line with findings from the general population. Overall, participants reported that they did not feel that they were treated any differently from persons without disabilities. However, the social reactions they received included unjustified social reactions, such as perpetrators not being held accountable. A possible explanation may be a habituation and internalisation of negative societal attitudes towards women with ID. Empowerment programmes and barrier-free structural support for women with ID following trauma exposure should be improved.

Organisation(en)

Institut für Klinische und Gesundheitspsychologie

Journal

International Journal of Developmental Disabilities

Band

68

Seiten

136-146

Anzahl der Seiten

11

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1080/20473869.2020.1729017

Publikationsdatum

2022

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

501010 Klinische Psychologie

Schlagwörter

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Psychiatry and Mental health, Developmental and Educational Psychology

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 16 – Frieden, Gerechtigkeit und starke Institutionen, SDG 5 – Geschlechtergleichheit

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/8c797449-f14e-4746-a238-536f9616efad