Developing and sustaining resilience by survivors of child sexaual abuse in Luuka District, Uganda

Abstract

Understanding the context within which child sexual abuse takes place and how resilience after exposure to abuse can be cultivated, are important in informing programing for child protection. Based on qualitative data that were collected between January and August, 2023, this study documented experiences of adult survivors of child sexual abuse in Luuka district, Uganda. Four main research questions guided the study and these are: What are the survivors’ perspectives on the context and risk factors for child sexual abuse? How do survivors describe their experiences in the immediate aftermath of child sexual abuse? What are survivor’s perspectives on the attributes of resilience following child sexual abuse? and what protective factors are associated with resilience among girls who have experienced sexual abuse? The study utilised multiple case studies and qualitative research methods to explore experiences of child sexual abuse among adult survivors. Narrative interviews were used to collect data from 14 purposively selected adult survivors of child sexual abuse. Six in-depth interviews were held with key informants and 2 focus group discussions were conducted involving randomly selected community members. The findings of this study demonstrate that children’s vulnerability to abuse often results from multiple factors, including cultural, economic, structural and social elements. Multiple factors at the individual and family level intersect with community-level practices and systemic influences to expose girls to child sexual abuse. However, the family environment appears to be presenting various vulnerabilities to abuse compared to other ecologies. Sexual abuse affects the most vulnerable girls, those who have already been victimized by poverty and violence among parents and caregivers, those involved in child labour and those who are not attending school. The experiences of survivors attest to the trauma associated with managing consequences of the abuse, challenges in accessing services for sexual abuse and the negative reactions from disclosure of abuse. Survivors’ narratives suggest that resilience was experienced largely as psychological phenomena linked to individual capacities and is something intrinsic to the individual. The findings reflect that resilience is associated with individual actions to absorb disturbances, enhance learning from their experiences, re-organising themselves and adapting to new demands. Counselling and social support were highlighted for facilitating emotional adjustment. In particular, social support enabled survivors to develop better attitudes towards their self-worth, confidence and self-respect. The study findings show that, there are many ways of developing and sustaining resilience among survivors of sexual abuse. While various protective factors in different ecologies might buffer against the consequences of sexual abuse, a person’s strength and skills must be identified and capitalised upon. The findings indicate that resilience is an interactive process and also dependent on the skills of the adolescent to navigate towards it. Therefore, interventions aimed at providing young people with some skills on how to access resources related to resilience are paramount. Strategies must incorporate problem-solving, self-efficacy and building on positive relationships. Therefore, addressing CSA requires an ecological focus, rather than child-centred interventions targeting strengthening household economies and community structures that disadvantage girls to enable them grow up in environments safe from abuse.