Occupational Well-Being in Sexual Assault Victims and Survivors

Abstract

Purpose: While researchers have established that sexual assault may adversely affect successful employment and academic achievement, little is known about the barriers and facilitators of occupational well-being from the perspective of sexual assault survivors. This study assessed the barriers and facilitators of occupational well-being. Design: Constructivist grounded theory. Method: Digitally recorded, semistructured interviews were used to collect data. Data were collected from 22 adult female sexual assault survivors. Analysis consisted of coding, creation of data matrices, and within and across case analysis. Findings: Theoretical saturation was achieved after interviews with 22 participants. Barriers to occupational well-being were mental health symptoms and diagnoses, substance abuse, inflexible attendance policies, and workplace bullying. Facilitators to occupational well-being were personal coping strategies, and organizational and social support. Conclusions: Sexual assault has significant effects on the occupational well-being of women. The work or academic environment can exacerbate the harms of sexual assault or facilitate healing in sexual assault survivors. To facilitate the occupational well-being of sexual assault survivors, workplaces and academic institutions can adopt a trauma-informed approach, create policies that allow for time off to deal with sequela of sexual assault, implement anti-bullying programs, and make resources for gendered violence available.

State compensation as rape justice: are public attitudes a legitimate foundation for reform of the UK’s Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme?

“…Even in the UK, where mental health services are free at the point of use, spending cuts mean that many victim-survivors fund their own support to avoid two-year waiting lists for NHS counselling (see Matthews-King 2018). Victim-survivor reactions to trauma can manifest in complex ways, making specialist services especially important and adding to the potential costs (Wadsworth, Krahe & Allen 2020). It is therefore no surprise that the Home Office (Heeks et al 2018) costed the consequences of rape and sexual offences at £9.7bn in England and Wales between 2015 and 2016.…”