Male Survivors’ Disclosure of Conflict‐Related Sexual Violence in Mental Health Care Settings

Results from a Phenomenological Study with Clinical Experts in Germany

Bibliographic Data

ID12288153
AuthorsKim Schönenberg (0000-0003-0601-9805, Leipzig University, corresponding author), Heide Glaesmer (0000-0002-3752-7653, Leipzig University), Yuriy Nesterko (0000-0002-8296-0958, Zentrum Überleben)
EditorsKumari Shweta Kalyani
Year2024
Volume2024
Issue1
Publication date2024-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHealth & Social Care in the Community (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0966-0410 • E-ISSN: 1365-2524
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1155/2024/5245177
OpenAlexW4402430740
LanguageEN
References cited38

Conflict‐related sexual violence (CRSV) can severely impair survivors’ mental health and prompt their need for mental health care. Male survivors face gender‐related barriers to disclosing experiences of sexual violence, yet the understanding of factors impeding or promoting disclosure is limited. This knowledge gap is even more pronounced regarding male disclosure in refugee settings. The high prevalence of CRSV experiences in male refugees in European host countries points to the urgency of understanding male disclosure processes along with its barriers and facilitators, in order to provide for adequate mental health care. 10 clinical experts working with male survivors of CRSV in Germany were interviewed adopting an explorative phenomenological approach and using the Problem‐Centered Interview. Qualitative content analysis yielded five themes describing male disclosure of CRSV: 1. Experiences of CRSV commonly remain nonverbalized, 2. Disclosure of CRSV is a dialogical and iterative process, 3. The process of (non‐)disclosure is a negotiation of agency, 4. Disclosure of CRSV affects the survivor’s psychoemotional state, and 5. Disclosure and recovery are interdependent processes. Additionally, seven categories describing barriers to and facilitators of male disclosure were extracted: 1. trauma characteristics, 2. survivor variables, 3. clinician variables, 4. interpreter variables, 5. interpersonal variables, 6. contextual variables, and 7. sociocultural variables. Clinical experts emphasize the effectivity of a gender‐specific communicative taboo for male refugee survivors that intersect with socio‐cultural norms. Variables characterizing survivors who are at risk of not disclosing CRSV are identified. A discussion of clinical approaches to address the taboo surrounding CRSV and to support male refugee survivors in agentic disclosure and recovery is provided

Criminology · Hermeneutic phenomenology · Interpretative phenomenological analysis · Lived experience · Mental health · Psychiatry · Psychotherapist · Qualitative research · Sexual violence · Sociology · Child Abuse and Trauma · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Medicine · Psychology · Sexual Assault and Victimization Studies · Clinical Psychology

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