Enabling factors that facilitate recovery among survivors of gender-based violence

WHAT IS KNOWN ON THE SUBJECT?: Gender-based violence (GBV) has long-term devastating effects on psychological health, resulting in depression, anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder. Beyond physical and mental health symptoms, GBV can affect survivors on many personal, social, and spiritual levels, impacting their ability to connect to themselves, others, and the world around them. While most research on recovery following GBV has focused on recognizing factors associated with distress or adverse outcomes, there is limited information about how they recover. WHAT THE PAPER ADDS TO EXISTING KNOWLEDGE?: We know little about the internal characteristics that enable or support the healing journey (factors) or what the survivors do to build capacity or support for health and change (strategies). Therefore, this study discovered the main factors or strategies that GBV survivors used throughout their recovery process which included; social connection, self-care, self-understanding and spiritual connection. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE?: Mental health nurses always encounter and deal with the GBV survivors as they always suffer from mental health issues related to their trauma. Therefore, mental health nurses can utilize our research findings to establish nursing interventions or psychoeducational programs with the aim of facilitating trauma recovery among the survivors.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Gender-based violence (GBV) is a severe worldwide phenomenon mainly affecting women. Little studies focus on the details of the recovery process that survivors of GBV go through.

AIM

To identify the enabling factors that facilitate recovery among survivors of GBV.

METHOD

We used the thematic qualitative analysis approach to analyse 20 interviews with the women survivors of GBV.

RESULTS

Our study resulted in four factors that survivors used in their recovery process (social connection, self-care, self-understanding and spiritual connection).

DISCUSSION

Recovering from an abusive relationship is a social, spiritual, cultural and psychological process. Current study confirmed the positive impact of our identified enabling factors in the recovery process of GBV survivors.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

The current study illustrates findings that provide a deeper understanding of the journey to recovery following GBV, which can be helpful when guiding and supporting women who have suffered GBV to start and pursue their journey toward recovery.

"Going Forward Like a Grandmother in the Snow": Personal Survival Strategies, Motherhood, and Nature as Resources for Mothers Who Have Experienced Intimate Partner Violence

After suffering interpersonal violence (IPV), women survivors can access various interdisciplinary services and programmes to guide their recovery. Nevertheless, many vulnerable women postpone seeking help, sometimes indefinitely. Motherhood especially complicates help-seeking because mothers often want to protect both the perpetrator and their children. Understanding women's resilience, resources, and capacities in surviving IPV, however, could guide the development of helpful services that women actually access. Thus, in our study, we sought to explore the agency, resources, and reinforcing survival experiences of survivors of IPV. Our data, gathered in Finland during the COVID-19 pandemic, consisted of 12 narratives of mothers told in Clinical Ethnographic Narrative Interviews that were subsequently subjected to thematic analysis. Five themes describing personal resources, motherhood, and nature were identified under the overarching metaphor of "going forward like a grandmother in the snow". Recognising the agency, resources, capacities, and coping mechanisms of women who have suffered IPV can help in developing professional outreach programmes, promoting women's early access to useful resources, and, in turn, helping them to stop the possible intergenerational transmission of violence.

The Impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic on the Contribution of Local Green Space and Nature Connection to Mental Health

BACKGROUND

Exposure to green space and feeling connected to the natural environment have independently been associated with improved mental health outcomes. During the coronavirus pandemic, people experienced restrictions on access to the outdoors, and health data indicated a decline in mental health in the UK general population.

METHODS

Data available from two independent surveys conducted prior to and during the pandemic enabled a naturally occurring comparison of mental health and its correlates prior to and during the pandemic.

RESULTS

Survey responses from 877 UK residents were included in the analyses. Independent t-tests revealed significant declines in mental health scores during the pandemic. After controlling for age and gender, greater nature connection significantly predicted lower depression and stress and improved well-being. Percentage of green space did not significantly predict any mental health outcomes. Further, time point (pre- or during COVID) and the interaction of time point with green space and nature connection did not significantly predict any of the outcome measures. The findings indicate that nature connection may play an important role in promoting mental health. Strategies to improve mental health and reduce mental illness should consider the role of nature connection and the use of interventions that involve direct interaction with natural environments.