Protect Thyself: Understanding Rape Survivors' Decisions Not to Seek Help from Social Systems

Purpose: Rape has been linked to multiple negative short- and long-term outcomes, such as psychological distress, physical health problems, and difficulties in life functioning (Gutner, Rizvi, Monson, & Resick, 2006). To alleviate these negative outcomes, rape survivors may seek help from multiple social systems including the legal, medical and mental health systems, and rape crisis centers. Despite the variety of services available, few rape survivors utilize these services (Ullman & Filipas, 2001). When survivors do not receive needed services, their health (e.g. STDs) and mental health concerns (e.g. post-traumatic stress) may remain untreated, which could cause long-term complications. However, relatively little is known about why rape survivors do not seek help. The purpose of the current study was to identify the factors that prevent rape survivors from seeking help and explore why these factors lead them to not seek help.

Method: Female rape survivors who did not seek any post-assault formal help were interviewed about why they did not reach out to these social systems for assistance. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 29 female adults (52% African American, 31% Caucasian, 7% Latina, and 10% Multi-racial with average age as 32.48 [SD = 9.66]) Data analysis proceeded in two phases. First, two analysts developed open codes (Strauss & Corbin, 1990) that captured key thematic content in the survivors' narratives. In the second phase, we used Erickson's (1986) analytic induction method for data analysis, which is an iterative procedure for developing and testing empirical assertions in qualitative research (see also Ryan & Bernard, 2000).

Results: This study found that survivors believed that social systems would or could not help, or would psychologically harm them. Specifically, survivors thought that systems would not help because they themselves believed they were unworthy of services or their rape experience did not match stereotypical conceptions of rape and therefore the system would be unwilling to provide help. In addition, survivors did not see how the system could help or protect them from their assailants. Finally, survivors anticipated social system personnel would cause them further psychological harm by not believing they had been raped. Survivors feared that receiving assistance from the system would have intensified their painful feelings beyond their coping skills. Therefore, survivors who do not seek help may be attempting to protect themselves from perceived psychological harm.

Conclusions and Implications: This study found that rape survivors who do not seek help from social systems, choose not to as a means of self-protection. Understanding this self-protection process suggests several strategies for social systems in their outreach efforts to rape survivors. In addition, the findings from this study highlight the need for social systems to incorporate processes that help survivors feel safe and in control of their options and social workers are often housed in these social systems (e.g. police departments, hospitals, mental health agencies, and rape crisis centers), providing opportunity for social workers to play an important role in improving survivors' experiences. The authors will elaborate on these implications for social work practice.