“I Felt Like I Was Being Abused All Over Again”: How Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse Make Sense of the Perinatal Period Through Their Narratives

Abstract

Sequelae following child sexual abuse pervade the lives of adult survivors, significantly impacting on pregnancy and childbirth. Symptoms of this distress are recognized, but meanings for women are less understood. This research aimed to examine the meaning for women themselves of the impact of child sexual abuse on experiences of pregnancy, childbirth, and the postnatal period. Taking a critical feminist perspective, three open-ended interviews with three survivors enabled women's narratives of pregnancy and childbirth to be heard, explored the structure of these narratives, including how experiences were connected, and identified key themes and how selves and others were positioned. Women themselves contributed to the analysis of their own narratives. The different struggles of each woman occurred within three domains of experience: identity, embodiment, and parenting. They were underpinned by a fluctuation between empowerment and disempowerment. These findings, although based on detailed analysis of the experiences of only three women, dovetail with, integrate, and extend the existent literature, offering a framework for understanding the complexity of meaning making for women. Further research might develop this. The framework may facilitate clinicians' understandings of what it is like for some women having children who have experienced child sexual abuse.

Healing The Past By Nurturing The Future: A qualitative systematic review and meta-synthesis of pregnancy, birth and early postpartum experiences and views of parents with a history of childhood maltreatment

“…The 27 studies included in this review were conducted in the United States of America (USA) (n = 16) [47, 52, 54, 55, 59, 60, 63–69, 71–73], United Kingdom (UK) (n = 4) [46, 50, 51, 57], Canada (n = 4) [45, 53, 61, 74], Australia (n = 2) [48, 62] and Brazil (n = 1) [56].…”

“…Participants were recruited from a range of settings, and in 17 studies these were classified as ‘risk’ settings, including mental health settings (n = 4) [46, 54, 60, 65], trauma, sexual assault or incest support groups (n = 6) [47, 51, 61, 62, 72, 74], adolescent out of home care support or residential care programs (n = 3) [55, 56, 67], support programs for ‘at risk’ parents (n = 2) [50, 73], local community agencies such as perinatal care Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, Craigslist and hospitals [71] and a homeless shelter program [52]. Other settings were classified generally as community-based urban [45, 53], urban and rural [48, 69], and perinatal, maternity or obstetric care [57, 59, 63, 64, 66, 68].…”

“…The impact of women’s trauma history on their negative self-belief (discussed in subtheme 7.1) and their perceptions of being able or ready to parent were evident from pre-conception and across the transition to parenthood. Many believed that they would not be a ‘good’ parent due to their trauma or that their body was ‘holding the trauma’, contributing to their decision to terminate previous pregnancies [61] or delay pregnancy [46, 48, 53, 54, 64]. Parents described a sense of ‘unworthiness’ which related to a sense of fear and stigma or judgement (discussed in subthemes 6.1 and 6.2).…”

“…Despite the challenges, some parents described conflicting expectations versus reality [65] and a vision for a perfect or idealised family (subtheme 1.2), based on concepts that they had understood from ‘normative discourses’ [45]. Their identity [46, 53, 54, 57, 61, 64] as a mother or pregnant woman was often positioned within the view of what it meant to be a good pregnant women or good mother (subtheme 1.2), and further defined by their abuse history. Parents described distress in containing trauma and ‘being good’ [45, 58, 64], which was rooted in fear of stigma or judgement (subtheme 6.2) that if they were not good, they would be viewed as “ mad , bad , hysterical and overly emotional ” [45].…”

Perinatal interventions for mothers and fathers who are survivors of childhood sexual abuse

“…Past trauma tends to resurface during the perinatal period -consequently, the childbearing experience of both mothers and fathers is influenced due to physical and psychological salience of triggers (Byrne, Smart, & Watson, 2017;LoGiudice & Beck, 2016;Price-Robertson, 2012). In women, physical triggers may include procedures associated with pregnancy, labour and birth -for instance vaginal examinations.…”