Psychological First Aid in Sexual Assault Cases

Abstract

Sexual assaults often targeting women, cooccur with other forms of violence, may cause physical injuries and psychological harm in victims. A significant number of sexual assault victims do not make legal notifications and those who do exceed the critical time required for collecting evidence. According to the literature, this is related to myths about sexual violence, stigmatization, not perceiving non-consensual sexual behavior as violence in intimate relationships, and the trauma reminding effect of forensic examination. Uncertainties about how to plan the life after a legal notification is another factor that affects the victim’s helpseeking behavior. The aim, timing, and stages of psychological first aid addressed in this review. Psychological first aid aims to address the safety needs and negative feelings of the victim and to inform about the availability of resources when they feel ready to seek help in the short term. It helps to reduce the psychological trauma of the victim in the long run. The intervention consists of establishing a relationship with the victim, identifying problems, dealing with feelings, discovering alternatives, developing an Action plan and follow-up. Psychological first aid not only ensures the collecting evidence by providing healthcare worker-victim cooperation but also the preparation of the victim’s safety plan and reduce the emotional trauma.

Keywords

• sexual violence
• first aid
• crisis intervention
• posttraumatic stress disorders
• rape