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Research
What’s happening in our survivor community?
Male Survivors of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse: A Review
Male child sexual abuse is over-represented in institutional settings. This realization has increasingly come into public focus in recent decades initially through lived experience, often with male survivors’ stories told in the media and subsequently through court cases and government…
How To Better Support People Who Have Experienced Sexual Violence: Normalising Living With Experiences of Sexual Violence
This is not the report I expected to submit when I was applying for a Churchill Fellowship. I thought I would be writing a relatively technical, academic document aimed primarily at commissioners and funders of support services for people who…
‘Nobody believes you if you’re a bloke’: Barriers to disclosure and help-seeking for male forced-to-penetrate victims/ survivors
Research on barriers that exist for male victims/survivors of sexual abuse in relation to disclosing their experiences is limited. This article shares qualitative data in relation to disclosure and helpseeking barriers encountered by male victims/survivors of female-perpetrated sexual abuse. Findings…
Lived experience allyship in mental health services: Recommendations for improved uptake of allyship roles in support of peer workforces
Inclusion of service users in the design and delivery of mental health services is clearly articulated throughout Australian mental health action plans and stated as an expectation within contemporary mental health policy. International and local Australian research demonstrates benefits for…
Peer support work: an international scoping review
A recent comprehensive review of the international literature regarding the use of peer support services in the mental health sector affirms the principles and practices embodied in the Purposeful Peer Support Aotearoa. The scoping review of the international literature was…
Women Receive More Positive Reactions to Childhood Sexual Abuse Disclosure and Negative Reactions are Associated With Mental Health Symptoms in Adulthood for Men and Women
Although disclosure of sexual abuse has become more socially acceptable for both men and women in recent years, there is much yet to be understood about differences in the disclosure process and associated pathology between men and women. The current…
Male survivors of sexual violence and abuse (SVA): Barriers and facilitators to reporting and accessing services
Sexual violence and abuse (SVA) is most typically presented as a gender-based problem due to the higher prevalence and incidence rates recorded for women. This has led to male victimisation being overlooked in research, practice and policy, despite international statistics…
Exploring male childhood sexual abuse survivors’ experiences of specialist counselling services
Global estimates suggest 5% to 10% of men report experience of childhood sexual abuse (CSA). However, male CSA is significantly underreported, with men being reluctant to disclose due to vulnerability, stigmatisation, homophobic responses and fearing a loss of masculinity. A…
Male Survivors Aotearoa publishes part one of a research study on effective support services for male suriviors of sexual violence
Male Survivors Aotearoa publishes part one of a research study on effective support services for male suriviors of sexual violence. “Living or merely existing” The experiences of male surivors of historical sexual abuse in Aotearoa New Zealand. Part two is…
The Manchester Attack Support Group Programme: modelling a psychosocial response to collective trauma
An article discussing a support group programme initiated in response to the Manchester Arena attack in 2017 as an example of a psychosocial approach to post-disaster support. Its purpose is to highlight how a bespoke psychosocial peer-based initiative can complement…
Does Gender Affect Judges’ Perceptions of Sexual Assault Cases?
There is growing recognition that females engage in harmful sexual behaviour that is similar in severity and type to males. Existing research, however, suggests that there is a bias towards leniency in judicial systems for female sexual offenders (FSOs) in…
A Solitary Place: a phenomenological examination of male on-male rape and sexual abuse
Male-on-male rape is a critically under-researched area in the sexual violence literature. This is in part due to narratives that portray sexual violence as a female-only issue, which has led to substantial gaps in the current knowledge on male-on-male survivors’…