Anna Pérez Aronsson: Stories of resistance: The community’s role in women’s recovery from domestic abuse and migration

Abstract

Preventing domestic violence and abuse (DVA) and providing support to those affected is a pressing public health concern, requiring multisectoral approaches. With the negative consequences of DVA well-established, research has focused on understanding the recovery processes of those affected.  Social surroundings can provide crucial support, yet may also uphold violence and hinder recovery. Less formal community services can be more accessible for women affected by DVA and could, therefore, be interesting arenas for public health initiatives aimed at facilitating access to support and promoting recovery. A better understanding of such services’ role in this context is needed. Having migrated following experiences of war, armed conflict, torture or persecution can entail specific nuances for DVA recovery, related to both multiple traumatic events experienced during migration journeys and stressors in the resettlement country. There is limited knowledge from Sweden on the recovery processes of women with experiences of DVA and migration.

This thesis explored women’s recovery from DVA and migration, and the role of two community services: the Open Preschool and Civic Orientation. It was based on four papers. Paper 1 described a formative process, in which researchers, public contributors and service providers co-designed a service model. The other three papers were conceptualised through this process. Paper II explored the perspectives of women with experiences of DVA and migration, based on analysis of individual interviews. Paper III examined Open Preschool personnel’s accounts of encountering and supporting women affected by DVA, using individual interviews. Paper IV investigated Civic Communicators’ views on the organisational readiness to respond to DVA, using an anonymous web-survey.

The findings show that women’s recovery may entail significant efforts to resist both DVA and the loneliness created by social reactions and administrative systems. They provide examples of the substantial work carried out by personnel at the Open Preschool and Civic Orientation to create safe places for women’s resistance and facilitate access to support, and highlight the demands and challenges personnel faced. Overall, they point to a need for structural-level public health action to improve women’s life conditions, and for providing resources and training to personnel at community services.