Fostering resilience and countering stigma: A qualitative exploration of risk and protective factors for negative psychological consequences among alcohol-involved sexual assault survivors.

ABSTRACT

The social-ecological resilience framework posits that the development of negative psychological outcomes (NPO) following alcohol-involved sexual assault (AISA) is influenced by the interaction of sociocultural and individual risk and protective factors. AISA survivors may be particularly vulnerable to AISA stigma (e.g., victim-blaming rape myths), a sociocultural risk factor which, if internalized, may increase individual risk factors such as self-blame, low-self-compassion, and fear of self-compassion (FOSC), in turn contributing to subsequent NPO. OBJECTIVE: This qualitative study explored AISA survivors' lived experiences regarding AISA stigma, self-blame, self-compassion, and FOSC as interrelated risk and protective factors in fostering or impeding resilience. METHOD: Eight participants (M = 25.8 years old) who survived AISA completed individual qualitative interviews that were later coded using thematic analysis. RESULTS: Analyses produced three interrelated main themes, where AISA survivors described experiencing (a) various NPO corresponding to PTSD, anxiety, and depression symptoms; (b) risk factors that undermined resilience, including internalized self-blame secondary to sociocultural AISA stigma, low self-compassion, FOSC, and preexisting maladaptive tendencies; and (c) protective factors contributing to resilience, including resisting self-blame and facilitating self-compassion by living according to one's values and challenging FOSC. CONCLUSIONS: Consistent with the social-ecological framework, AISA survivors' resilience toward NPO was undermined by the interrelated constructs of AISA stigma, internalized self-blame, and low self-compassion. In contrast, survivors' values, including being empathic and committed to feminism, fueled motivation to resist victim-blaming stigma and internalized self-blame and to practice self-compassion, ultimately countering the negative psychological effects of AISA. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).