This qualitative study analysed the agency of eight non-abusing mothers in the Turkish Cypriot Community after disclosure that their child had been sexually abused by someone outside the family. The aim was to discover how, after disclosure, such mothers act to protect their children in the contexts of their family and community. The data were gathered via semi-structured in-depth interviews and analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). In the nuclear family context, maternal agency emerged in the form of motherhood skills, including emotionally supporting the abused child, double-checking the child’s safety or limiting the child’s mobility, and controlling the actions of adult sons. In the community context, maternal agency was manifested in efforts to prevent men in the extended family or the abuser’s family from concealing the abuse and to obtain informal support from others such as birth or extended family members. The women were usually successful in hiding their reactions or making decisions in their children’s best interest despite frequently having to cope with the reality of living in a restrictive and patriarchal culture. The results emphasise the need for working with the general public and professionals to change the culture of silence and to improve the social support network for sexually abused children and non-abusing family members, especially mothers.
The role of maternal support has been perceived as vital throughout the recovery process of sexually abused children. However, it is important to look at the concept “support” from the perspective of non‐abusing mothers' personal needs. This narrative review of the literature aimed to find out how non‐abusing mothers' need for support in their responses to disclosure of child sexual abuse has been recognized. A comprehensive search on Jyväskylä University Library interface yielded 12 academic articles based on empirical research. These articles were selected from those considered to have sufficiently investigated support for non‐abusing mothers and included a mixture of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed‐method research. The data consisted of peer‐reviewed online articles published in English between 2000 and 2017. Four themes emerged from the thematic analysis: improving the quality of the whole social support network for non‐abusing mothers; being blamed, maternal guilt, and shame; anger; and coping strategies. The findings show that the support needs of non‐abusing mothers are usually explained based on their interaction with sexually abused children. However, it is necessary to listen to women's needs independently of their mothering role. If these mothers are better understood, not only they, but also their children, could be empowered.
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