The Representations of Women, Survivors of Violence, about Socio-psychological Support of Relatives

Abstract

The article is devoted to the description and discussion of the research results about the features of women’s representations, survivors of violence, towards the socio-psychological support of relatives. The article is devoted to the description and discussion of the research results of the features of the representations of women survivors of violence about the social and psychological support of relatives. The following techniques were used for study the representations: semi-structured interview developed by the authors; “Typical Family Condition” technique by EH.G. Eidemiller, V.V. Yustitskis; “Analysis of family anxiety” inventory by EH.G. Eidemiller, V.V. Yustitskis. The study involved 186 women from 16 to 40 years old. Experimental sample was divided into two different groups: first group was consisted of women survivors of violence (96 respondents), second group was represented by women who were not subjected to any violence (90 respondents). The study revealed that representations of women survivors of violence about socio-psychological support of relatives are negative. Women that were subjected to violence are much more likely to experience family-conditioned anxiety, mental stress, feeling of helplessness, guilt. Statistically significant differences between two groups of women were found (φ*emp >φ*cr 0,01). Based on the findings, it is concluded that close relatives of victims of violence are unable to provide effective social and psychological support to members of their families who have been subjected to violence.

Keywords

• women
• family representation
• violence
• socio-psychological support
• family