Experiences of dehumanizing: Examining secondary victimization within the nurse-patient relationship among African American women survivors of sexual assault in the Upper Midwest. Soc Sci Med 2023 Jul;329:116029
Date
06/23/2023Pubmed ID
37352706Pubmed Central ID
PMC10348383DOI
10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116029Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85163848529 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 11 CitationsAbstract
Despite calls recognizing the need for culturally sensitive responses to minimize the occurrence of secondary victimization for African American women following an experience of sexual assault, few studies have focused on hearing from African American women survivors about their experiences receiving healthcare services in a hospital setting following sexual assault. Employing critical ethnography as our methodology and using intersectionality theory as a lens, we centered the voices of African American women survivors about their experiences receiving nursing care in urban acute care or hospital settings in the Upper Midwest of the United States following sexual assault. In this qualitative study, 30 African American women survivors were interviewed using in-depth, semi-structured interviews about their post-sexual assault care. Interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. An important theme identified focused on survivors' experiences of dehumanization when receiving healthcare services following sexual assault. These experiences included: discrediting, dismissing, shaming, and blaming. To mitigate and prevent secondary victimization in the future, we present practice and education change recommendations for nurses, and healthcare providers more broadly, based on the voices of African American female survivors of sexual assault.
Author List
Ruiz AM, Moore KM, Woehrle LM, Kako P, Davis KC, Mkandawire-Valhmu LAuthor
Lynne Woehrle PhD Associate Professor in the Nursing department at University of Wisconsin - MilwaukeeMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
Crime VictimsCulturally Competent Care
Dehumanization
Female
Humans
Judgment
Midwestern United States
Nurse-Patient Relations
Qualitative Research
Sex Offenses
Shame
Survivors
United States
