Nurturing Digital Resiliency and Post-Traumatic Growth: An Exploratory Study of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Survivors User Experiences on Social Media

Background & Purpose:

Increasingly, survivors of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) are opting to self-disclose experiences of abuse in virtual spaces. While scholars have called attention to the adverse mental health outcomes associated with social media engagement, there has been less theorizing on the myriad ways digital connectivity can promote well-being among people with lived experiences of abuse. Building off Buchi’s (2021) digital-well-being theory and survivor-centered perspectives, the purpose of this presentation is to describe the nature of survivors’ social media engagement and the ways these interactions have promoted well-being and exacerbated harm. We will describe potential protective factors that can buffer risk and facilitate digital resiliency and post-traumatic growth.

Methods:

Virtual interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of female-identified and gender-non-binary IPV survivors. Participants were recruited via social media and through solicitation to service providers. None of the participants were currently in an abusive relationship. Theoretical sampling was employed to identify survivors with different engagements with service providers, from those in shelter services to those that have never been in contact with a service provider. We utilized a semi-structured interview guide to elicit participants' perspectives on types of digital harms and strategies to mitigate risk. We employed exploratory thematic content analysis, including multiple rounds of inductive coding to construct primary thematic domains.

Results

Across the sample, participants categorized interactions and content on social media as supportive of their post-traumatic growth; however, they noted individualized instances when interactions were "triggering" or "annoying." Content interpreted as insensitive to the lived experiences of abuse was perceived to be the most hurtful. Five themes emerged regarding protective strategies survivors have employed to mitigate unsettling interactions. These themes include: avoiding disputes, being conscious of personal triggers, practicing harm reduction practices (e.g., ignoring comments; taking breaks; monitoring settings; restricting friend lists); nurturing offline sources of support, and curating one’s personal social media algorithm. Participants also commented that there are sensitized times in one’s healing journey when social media can be particularly helpful or harmful.

Discussion:

Technology affords many opportunities to support survivor well-being. However, it can also be a source of harm. This study provides an essential foundation for theorizing potential protective factors to buffer digital harms and promote healthy engagement with technology. We live in an increasingly digital society, so developing a contextualized understanding of pathways toward post-traumatic growth is imperative. While tech scholars have advocated for developing universal precautions built into tech infrastructure to mitigate harm, this study points to the importance of complementing these approaches with more personalized harm-reduction approaches to buffer IPV survivors’ risk and support digital resiliency.