The lived experience of mothers of children who have been sexually abused- an interpretative phenomenological analysis

Abstract

ObjectiveMothers of children who are survivors of sexual violence experience significant distress from the discovery of their child's abuse. Previous research has mostly focused on the mental health symptoms arising from this type of trauma, rather than the personal journey and meaning mothers take from these incidents. This study aimed to examine the lived experiences of non-offending mothers of children who have been sexually abused.MethodsSix mothers, aged 34–53 years-old, whose children had experienced sexual abuse took part in the study. All participants were attending a specialist multidisciplinary service in Northern Ireland for the investigation and treatment of sexual violence. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and content was analysed via interpretative phenomenological analysis.ResultsThree superordinate themes emerged from the interviews: (1) “The Sins of the Mother”, comprising three subordinate themes centering on negative evaluations of the self and perceived judgements from others; (2) “Impotent Anger”, relating to injustice and revenge fantasies; and (3) “It Changed Me as a Parent”, comprising two subordinate themes on how the mothers perceived and parented their child after the abuse.ConclusionsMothers perceived the abuse of their child as incompatible with their view of themselves as good parents, leading to internalized feelings of shame as well as externalized feelings of anger and injustice. This had implications for the mothers' relationship with their child and confidence in parenting.<br/