'It's a long process, and it's a long journey': Autistic adult’s experiences of support and recovery after experiencing intimate violence and abus

Added on 13/09/2024

Type de contenu

Journal article of the type Testimony ( ; english)

Amy Pearson*, Kieran Rose*, Alex Mitchell, Wendy Joseph, Sarah Douglas, Felicity Sedgewick, Monique Botha* , 'It's a long process, and it's a long journey': Autistic adult’s experiences of support and recovery after experiencing intimate violence and abus published in the journal " PsyArXiv", Preprint, 36 pages , doi:10.31234/osf.io/u5w7a

*Three co-authors are autistics. [Learn more about this mention]

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Background: Many services designed to support victim/survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) do not have a specific focus on, or understanding of neurodivergence, which may impact autistic access to meaningful support. The aim of this project was to examine the support and recovery needs of autistic adults who have experienced IPV. Method: We recruited 21 autistic adults (mean age = 42) to take part in a semi-structured interview about the experience of IPV. We asked questions about their support seeking, and recommendations for future intervention. We analysed the data using reflexive thematic analysis. One author coded all data, engaging in reflexive discussion with the whole team. They then organised these into themes in collaboration with a second team member. These were circulated to the whole team for discussion and refinement. Results: We identified three themes in the data, which focused on support and recovery: 1) Recovery is a journey (recovery is non-linear, and involves multiple disclosures over time). 2) Building better systems (addressing systemic gaps in knowledge and practice, combatting under-resourcing), and 3) How do we stop this? (recognising potential individual risk factors and increasing relationship education). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that approaches to supporting autistic victim/survivors in recovery needs a nuanced, multi-pronged approach. Intervention should focus on relationship education ensuring access to appropriate therapies and support for individuals and ameliorating systemic issues such as a lack of professional understanding, and lack of practical support for survivors

For your information:

(1) References in blue are resources listed on our site;

(2) Authors listed in this bibliography whose names are in color have published other resources referenced on the site. Clicking on the name allows you to see the list of resources they have published and shared on the site;

(3) Authors whose names are followed by an asterisk have publicly disclosed being autistic. [Learn more about this mention]

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