“A Very Steep Climb”: Therapists’ Perspectives on Barriers to Disclosure of Child Sexual Abuse Experiences for Men

ABSTRACT

Recent studies indicate that men experience unique barriers to disclosure of child sexual abuse. Blind spots held by mental health providers and social service agencies may inadvertently help produce and sustain these barriers. However, therapists who specialize in treating this population may also hold important insights into the barriers clients face. Because delayed and nondisclosure of child sexual abuse have been associated with negative mental health outcomes for adult survivors, understanding these barriers is critical to improve clinical practice and facilitate help-seeking. Using conventional content analysis, this study examined the perceptions of nine therapists who specialize in the treatment of men who were sexually abused in childhood, many of whom are considered pioneers in the field. Analyses identified nine types of barriers, which were organized into three categories: intrapersonal experience (difficult feelings, lack of language, and self-engagement), social milieu (internalized social stigma, negative responses, social loss or judgment, and masculine identity dissonance), and health care environment (structural barriers, relational challenges with therapists, and unhelpful therapeutic strategies). Implications for future research, clinical training, and clinical practice are discussed.     

“She Got Spoilt”: Perceptions of Victims of Child Sexual Abuse in Ghana

ABSTRACT

International research has commented on social stigma as a key reason for nondisclosure of child sexual abuse. However, the actual components of this social stigma frequently remain unexplored. The present study deals with perceptions of consequences of child sexual abuse among professionals and laypeople in Ghana (N = 44), employing a bystander perspective. As a qualitative study using a grounded theory framework, it considers these consequences in light of their underlying beliefs about child and adolescent development, particularly in relation to gender-based expectations placed on girls and boys. Consequences of child sexual abuse could be divided into sexual health consequences, beliefs about “destroyed innocence” and beliefs about a “destroyed future,” which were strongly related to the sexual nature of the violence perpetrated. These perceived consequences of child sexual abuse hold implications for what surviving child sexual abuse means on a social level. Implications for practice are discussed on the basis of the data analysis.     

The Impact of ”Moral Panic” on Professional Behavior in Cases of Child Sexual Abuse

No abstract available for this article.     

“At My Age … ”: Defining Sexual Wellness in Mid- and Later Life

Sexual wellness is integral to quality of life across the life span, despite ageist stereotypes suggesting sexual expression ends at midlife. However, conceptualizing sexual wellness in mid- and later life is complicated by a dysfunction-based narrative, lack of a sex-positive aging framework, and existing measures that are age irrelevant and limited in scope. This study aimed to address these limitations by providing a conceptualization of sexual wellness grounded in definitions from midlife and older adults. A sample of 373 midlife and older adults (M = 60, SD = 5.84) in the United States provided a definition of sexual wellness. Using thematic analysis, multiple researchers coded qualitative responses, and results suggested a biopsychosocial-cultural framework. Findings reflect that midlife and older adults provide multifaceted definitions inclusive of various behavioral experiences, including disengaging from sex. They are also keenly aware of physical and psychological limitations and strengths, and emphasize mutual experiences and synchronicity. Midlife and older adults also reflect on age, drawing comparisons to different phases of life and often displaying adaptability in adjusting expectations. When conceptualizing sexual wellness in this population it is imperative to capture this multidimensionality, include those who are not actively engaging in sex, and be aware of the influence of ageist and dys/function narratives.     

A Response to ”The Impact of 'Moral Panic' on Professional Behavior in Cases of Child Sexual Abuse”

No abstract available for this article.     

Colonized Silence: Confronting the Colonial Link in Rural Alaska Native Survivors’ Non-Disclosure of Child Sexual Abuse

Though there is evidence linking the history of colonialism and oppression of Indigenous people to the high rates of rape and child sexual abuse experienced by this population today, it is less understood how colonial processes, past and present, condition the decision to disclose or report victimization. Drawing on a survivorship storytelling study of rural Alaska Native survivors of child sexual abuse, this paper underscores the importance of centering colonialism in understanding the culture of silence surrounding sexual victimization among Indigenous people. Results show that reasons for non-disclosure are quite embedded within larger social, historical and political themes of colonialism, oppression, and marginalization. Implications for policy and praxes are discussed, as well as a broader mandate of social change to remove barriers to disclosure.     

Parent–Child Relationships in the Twilight Saga: Implications for Family Life Education

One source of cultural messages for adolescents is the novel. According to Reader Response Theory, readers interact with the text to construct meaning. This process makes novels an effective tool for facilitating parent–child communication. The current qualitative study examined the parent–child relationships portrayed in The Twilight Saga. Five themes emerged through inductive analyses. This article includes a comparison of the themes in the novels with the literature on parent–adolescent relationships. We also offer suggestions to family life educators regarding how to use the novels with parents and teens to facilitate communication about parent–child relationships.     

Situating the Notion of “gbɛkɛfɔŋs” in the Discourse of Child Sexual Abuse Among the Ga in Accra,Ghana

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a prevalent problem in many societies across the globe. There have been several discussions of the subject and attempts have been made to explain its incidence and find ways to prevent and/or control it. However, despite these efforts, the problem seems to persist in developing countries like Ghana with dire consequences for the children and society at large. This paper sought to glean insights about the persistence of the problem by focusing on the discourse surrounding the subject. Using Focus Group Discussions with adult members in the Ga communities in Accra namely La, Teshie, and James Town where the phenomenon is relatively pervasive, the paper sought to understand the reasoning and the implications of accusing children who were sexually abused in the Ga community of seducing the perpetrators and engaging in sex for money. The paper posits that the labeling of victims of CSA as “gb?k?f??s” (children of bad character) disempowers children and perpetuates the abuse of children. Thus, introducing and situating this notion of “gb?k?f??s” in the center of the discourse largely results in a victimization of the victims and a vicious cycle of CSA. The conclusions from this study point to the need for a reorientation of parental and communal roles and an empowering of children to identify and resist sexual abuse.     

Katabasis,adult betrayals and liminal identities in China Keitetsi’s Child Soldier: Fighting for My Life

In Child Soldier, China Keitetsi recounts her experiences as a child and a soldier during Yoweri Museveni’s guerrilla war against then Ugandan president, Milton Obote. Drawing on key debates on literary representations of katabasis, this paper examines Keitetsi’s portrait of adult betrayal and parental abuse of children at home, and as child soldiers. I argue that Child Soldier is a text that lends itself to a katabatic analysis, and that Keitetsi is a katabasist who frames her experiences as a child and a soldier “within the narrative structure of a descent into Hell and return” . I argue that “hellish” elements in the memoir are more than just incidental: they point to a world where tenderness and love have long given way to cruelty and cynicism, and where madness and violence and despair are the order of the day. I also draw on Sigmund Freud and Homi Bhabha’s notions of the unhomely, to suggest that the memoir introduces interesting parallels between the unhomeliness in the home and that brought on by the civil war. Subconsciously, then, examining the memoir under the tropes of katabasis and the unhomely allows us to view her life as floating in-between the child she wishes she should have been and the abused and rejected young woman she becomes.     

Recovering from Homelessness: Determining the “Quality of Sobriety” in a Transitional Housing Program

Recent years have seen fundamental shifts in the objectives and delivery of assistance to the homeless. An early emphasis on emergency shelter and monetary housing assistance has been replaced by a focus on programs designed to blend shelter with an array of social services. In most instances, however, programs combining shelter and social services are designed as transitional; that is, they are intended to help homeless individuals and families move from a position of dependence to one where they can live independently. The emphasis in transitional housing programs is on making homeless people housing ready. This paper concerns the process of assessing housing readiness as observed during eighteen months of fieldwork in a federally supported transitional housing program for formerly homeless single adults. The detailed case study that follows supports three important findings. First, there was virtual unanimity among staff and residents that substance abuse was the cause of their homelessness and the key to its solution. Second, success within the program was defined and operationalized along very specific but well understood normative dimensions that have little to do with the material circumstances in which residents find themselves and everything to do with recovery. Third, recovery—the key to housing readiness in this environment—was measured not by objective measures, i.e., number of months sober, but rather by what was widely referred to as one's quality of sobriety, a subjective and consequently often hotly debated measure of attitude and outlook only loosely related to demonstrable abstinence from alcohol. This last finding, that ultimately housing readiness is a subjective judgment, both increases the discretion of shelter staff and generates a systematic disattention to the individual economic issues that are fundamental to an exit from homelessness.     

“Is This How I'll Be for the Rest of My Life?”

Abstract

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder affecting 2% to 3% of populations throughout the world. This paper provides an overview of symptoms (obsessional thoughts and compulsive behaviours) and current treatment options (medication and cognitive-behaviour therapy). A case study involving data obtained from an OCD sufferer and her mother is presented. Analysis of the data within the context of past literature highlights the economic and emotional costs of OCD which include years of psychiatric treatment, therapy, and medication, loss of productivity due to long-term unemployment, and individual and family stress. A framework for mental health social work practice assumes three key foci: (1) the family system as a whole; (2) individual family members; (3) a broader perspective that takes into account the need for adequate resources, community education and further research.     

‘My Mother Thinks that this is the Case,and so Does My Teacher. I,for My Part,Do Not Notice Any Difference’: Methodological Reflections on Intersubjectivity in the Research Process with Children

This article illustrates why the notion of intersubjectivity is important when conducting interviews with children. Even though intersubjectivity is often undermined in educational activity as well as in research with children, it needs to be established and maintained in order to make the children talk and the adults listen. By discussing some interview material from a research project in which children diagnosed with AD[H]D talk about their medication, the authors show how creative the children are when expressing their subjective meanings, and how helpless the adults often are when they do not at first understand the children. Here, intersubjectivity is realised when the adult interviewer manages to understand the children's expressions as their efforts to convey their ideas. Children who struggle to express themselves and communicate need to rely on adults' empathy and understanding.     

Knowledge and Behavioral Impact of Adult Participation in Child Sexual Abuse Prevention: Evaluation of the Protecting God’s Children Program

ABSTRACT

This article presents findings from an evaluation of a popular adult training program (Protecting God’s Children) used in Catholic institutions, including schools, churches, and social service agencies. The study explores knowledge and behavior change based on pretest/posttest questionnaires administered to over 500 adults and follow-up questionnaires sent six months after the training. The participants in the training were compared to a control group of adults who did not participate in the program. The results indicate that participants arrive at the training with fairly high rates of preexisting knowledge but that the program increases knowledge across demographic groups. Follow-up surveys suggest that the new knowledge is retained over six months. The study indicates that the program is associated with an increase in participants talking to their own children about child sexual abuse. Participants also report sharing information with other adults and monitoring behavior around children more closely.     

“I Am Not A Victim. I Am A Survivor”: Resilience as a Journey for Female Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse

ABSTRACT

This study was designed to expand our understanding of the positive aspects of coping and resilience in female survivors of child sexual abuse. Research questions focused on women’s lived experiences of being survivors of child sexual abuse and how they have experienced resilience, developed healthy intimate relationships, and viewed themselves as sexual beings. Using a qualitative research lens of phenomenology, we captured the essence of survivors’ experiences of resilience. Although each woman’s experience was unique, similar patterns of processes and outcomes emerged as meaningful in their development of resilient and healthy sexuality and relationship functioning. However, participants emphasized resilience as a process or journey—recovery from trauma, reconceptualization of self, and development of healthy sexuality included deliberate efforts occurring over time. Implications for future research and practice using a positive lens of resilience are provided.     

“I'm in Transition Too”: Sexual Identity Renegotiation in Sexual-Minority Women's Relationships with Transsexual Men

ABSTRACT

This qualitative research study examines the experiences of sexual-minority women in relationships with transsexual men (N = 20) using grounded theory analysis. This paper reports data on the core theme of “Sexual Identity Renegotiation” and reflects the process by which women manage their sexual-minority identities in the shifting social context of their partners taking on increasingly male signifiers. The research findings suggest that conflicts and strategies surrounding identity depend on the investment in, and the nature of, a sexual-minority identity. These struggles are also affected by the degree of visibility as a sexual-minority, influenced by both gender expression and the racialized experience of that expression. Clinical applications for work with this population are proposed.     

“He Wanted Me to Achieve that for Our Family and I Did,Too”: Exploring First-Generation Students’ Experiences of Turning Points During the Transition to College

This study explored the ways in which family communication facilitated support and persistence for first-generation students during the transition from high school through the first year of college with a specific focus on the first-year experience, a pivotal time when first-generation students often decide whether they will leave or stay in college. Through semistructured interviews, we identified the communication events that first-generation students perceived to be turning points in their interpersonal interactions with their family members. Seventeen participants identified a total of 121 turning points that they experienced from family members spanning from the time they had their first conversation about going to college through the first year of college. Interviews revealed three suprathemes of turning points: (a) coauthoring the dream, (b) experiencing obstacles to the dream, and (c) actualizing the dream.     

“He Was Supposed to be With Me for the Rest of My Life”: Meaning-Making in Bereaved Siblings’ Online Stories

The present study applied relational dialectics theory to explore the competing discourses that animate bereaved siblings’ online stories about their loss, as well as to understand how the interplay of these discourses constitutes meaning of sibling bereavement. Analysis of over 70 message board postings retrieved from online support groups revealed two main discursive struggles that characterize siblings’ experiences of grief and loss: grieving as deviant behavior versus grieving as a normal process and the deceased as gone forever versus the deceased as still present. These findings illuminate the challenges bereaved siblings face as they attempt to mourn their deceased brother or sister and make sense of their grief within a societal context that oftentimes forgets or overlooks how traumatic it can be to lose a sibling.     

The “Replacement Child”: On Adoption,Haunting, and the Unlived Life

What does it mean to live in the shadow of an older sibling’s unlived life? This study draws on notions of haunting, guilt, fantasy, and envy to explore the experience of the “replacement child.” Art Spiegelman’s (1986) Maus tells the story of what it was like to occupy the place of his older brother, who died during the Holocaust. This is intertwined with my own account of adoption and replacement. The dead sibling is perceived as a ghostly presence, shaping the possibilities of who and what the “replacement child” will become.