Lane Rebecca, Alves-Costa Filipa, Gribble Rachael, Taylor Anna, Howard Louise M, Fear Nicola T, MacManus Deirdre
Department of Forensic & Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, 16 De Crespigny Park, London, SE5 8AB UK.
Barnet, Enfield & Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust (North London Forensic Service), London, UK.
J Fam Violence. 2023 Mar 25:1-17. doi: 10.1007/s10896-023-00534-6.
Intimate Partner Violence and Abuse (IPVA) is as a major health concern globally. The prevalence of IPVA perpetration and victimisation has been found to be higher in military compared to civilian populations. Of concern, help-seeking for other psychosocial difficulties among military communities has been shown to be both limited and challenging, and military personnel could face additional or amplified barriers to help-seeking for IPVA than their civilian counterparts. This study aimed to use qualitative methods to explore the experiences of, and barriers to, help-seeking for IPVA victimisation and perpetration among UK military personnel.
Thematic analysis was conducted on 40 one-to-one semi-structured interviews with military personnel (29 male, 11 female).
Four superordinate themes were derived, thematically organised according to different levels of the social ecological model: ; and At a military cultural level, participants described difficulties in help-seeking for IPVA resulting from widespread stigma and hypermasculine attitudes in military communities, minimisation of violence, perceived pressure from chain of command, and fear of consequences of reporting. At a support-service level, participants' negative views or experiences and lack of awareness of services were also significant in deterring help-seeking. At an interpersonal level, participants recounted how relationships with military colleagues, their partner and their family could be both instrumental or a hindrance to help-seeking for IPVA. At an individual level, lack of insight into IPVA and different forms of abuse were suggested through minimisation of violence and described to contribute to delay in help-seeking. Shame, compounded by multi-layered stigma present at each social ecological model level, was a key reason for delaying or avoiding help-seeking.
The findings indicate the added challenges in help-seeking for IPVA experienced by military personnel and highlight a need for a whole systems approach to improve the provision of support for IPVA in the military serving and ex-serving community to instil meaningful change.
亲密伴侣暴力与虐待（IPVA）是全球主要的健康问题。研究发现，与平民群体相比，军队中IPVA的 perpetration（此处perpetration结合语境推测为“实施”之意）和受害率更高。令人担忧的是，军事社区中寻求其他心理社会问题帮助的情况有限且具有挑战性，与平民相比，军事人员在寻求IPVA帮助时可能面临更多或更大的障碍。本研究旨在运用定性方法，探索英国军事人员在IPVA受害和perpetration方面寻求帮助的经历及障碍。
对40名军事人员（29名男性，11名女性）进行一对一的半结构化访谈，并开展主题分析。
得出四个上位主题，根据社会生态模型的不同层面进行主题组织：在军事文化层面，参与者描述了在寻求IPVA帮助时遇到的困难，这些困难源于军事社区中普遍存在的污名化和过度男性化态度、对暴力的轻视、来自指挥链的感知压力以及对举报后果的恐惧。在支持服务层面，参与者的负面看法或经历以及对服务的缺乏了解，在阻碍寻求帮助方面也很重要。在人际层面，参与者讲述了与军事同事、伴侣和家人的关系如何既可能有助于也可能阻碍寻求IPVA帮助。在个人层面，通过对暴力的轻视表明对IPVA和不同形式虐待缺乏洞察力，这被认为会导致寻求帮助的延迟。羞耻感，再加上每个社会生态模型层面都存在的多层污名化作用，是延迟或避免寻求帮助的关键原因。
研究结果表明军事人员在寻求IPVA帮助方面面临更多挑战，并强调需要采取全面系统的方法，以改善对现役和退役军人社区中IPVA的支持提供，从而实现有意义的改变。
