Exploring the Experiences of Regional and Rural Revictimized Women in a Group Empowerment Program.

Sexual revictimization can have a negative impact on many facets of women's wellbeing, yet limited evidence exists regarding specific interventions that support healing and the reduction of further revictimization. This paper will explore regional and rural women's experience of a group-based empowerment program, the Shark Cage program, in Victoria, Australia. The "Shark Cage" program aims to address revictimization by empowering women and girls to build personal boundaries and assertiveness within the context of gender equality and human rights. Data were collected via participant observations across the 8-week program, in combination with semi-structured interviews with participants (N = 11) pre and post intervention. All participants had access to therapeutic support outside of the program. Findings indicate that the program fostered connections among women with shared experiences of sexual revictimization, reducing feelings of isolation. Participants detailed the benefit of developing and practicing skills in reducing revictimization, such as assertiveness and boundary setting. Program learning and recovery was embedded within a network of embodied emotions, social connections, cultural norms and place-based relations that influenced how participants recovery could be understood, processed and addressed.

Revictimisation of Women in Non-Urban Areas: A Scoping Review.

Literature widely acknowledges that women who experience Child Sex Abuse (CSA) have a higher risk of experiencing sexual revictimisation later in life, yet less is known about experiences of revictimisation in non-urban areas. The aim of this review is to examine what is known internationally regarding revictimisation of non-urban women, and to provide future research, practice and policy recommendations. A total of 2414 articles were identified through a comprehensive search across five broad health sciences and humanities databases; 11 articles met inclusion criteria and were included in this review. This review found a general lack of qualitative revictimisation studies, and limited research focusing on non-urban women. While existing studies included non-urban research samples, few articles (n = 3) explored how non-urban location contextualises revictimisation experiences. Most peer-reviewed articles identified within this paper (n = 7) examined intimate partner violence (IPV) revictimisation, highlighting a significant lack of research on sexual revictimisation within non-urban settings. Findings from the review indicate that experiences of violence in childhood and adulthood are frequent among non-urban women, and that experiencing child abuse is associated with a heightened likelihood of poor mental health and IPV in adulthood. The review also found that non-urban women faced significant structural disadvantage including low levels of employment and income, limited-service sector resources, unsafe family environments and exposure to community violence. Additional qualitative research is needed to better understand the experiences and needs of non-urban revictimised women, particularly within an Australian context.

Violence Against Young Women in Non-urban Areas of Australia: A Scoping Review.

Violence against women is globally prevalent and harmful to women's health and well-being. Younger women are at higher risk of abuse, especially those from non-urban areas who may face specific barriers to disclosure and support. The aim of this review was to map the breadth and nature of the "violence against women" literature particular to young non-urban Australian women and identify research gaps to inform future research with young people. A comprehensive scoping review methodology, as outlined by Arksey and O'Malley, was adopted. English language, peer-reviewed articles were identified from five databases between January 2000 and July 2015. Grey literature was also examined. Inclusion criteria for the review included young women (15-24 years) from non-urban areas of Australia. Twenty-four full-text articles were included in this review. Themes identified include prevalence and type of abuse, experiences and response to violence, and the consequences of abuse. Recommendations from the review which are relevant to a global audience include the need for improved service access, improved data collection on the prevalence of violence, and a focus on more research with young women in non-urban areas. There is limited research on violence against young women living in non-urban areas of Australia. Evidence to date consists of predominantly quantitative data generated from general population surveys. There is a lack of qualitative research on this topic, and we argue that more is needed to gain a better understanding of the violence that young women experience.